Fusion Destruction
by Anti-Twilight Forever
Summary: Four missing authors. Two worlds in a clash. One chance to save the world. No time to waste. Rated M for language and violence.
1. Prologue: The Missing Authors

**Well, I've come across a block on one of my stories… caused by the idea to start two NEW stories, both of which I hope you enjoy.**

**Having been reading Scoobycool9's **_**Reality Twisted**_** and Wherever Girl's **_**Missing In Fiction**_** stories, I've become inspired to write something similar, yet a tad different (You can probably tell because of the rating this is under). Nevertheless, sit back, relax, and enjoy my new story…**

_**Fusion Destruction.**_

**Summary: **When the three authors, WG, FF2, and SC9 go missing in action and the tooniverse and real-world begin to clash, it's up to some old heroes to once again ban together to restore order… with the help of some new friends.

**And usual disclaimer, I own nothing.**

**Story is dedicated to Scoobycool9 and Luckycool9, Wherever Girl, Fangface the Second, and Tracker78 for their inspiration, and permission to use some of their characters.**

~Prologue~

It had been five years since the defeat of Finneas and Time Lord, the tooniverse and reality once again in safe hands… if you don't count the ongoing disasters happening in the real-world and the fact that a lot of characters in the tooniverse are nut-cases… but nevertheless, all was at peace.

That is, until a portal opened and Tracker78 stepped through, entering the studios in which the Fangface Gang worked. "Mom, Dad, we've got a problem," she told her parents, Sherman 'Fangs' Fangsworth and Kasandra.

"Tracker! Nice to see you, too," Kasandra said, running up to her daughter, wincing. "It's been five years since your birth…"

"And six months since you've disappeared," Fangs sniffled.

Tracker nodded. This was the time-period that involved her being kidnapped, taken back in time to be handed over to two abusive foster-parents only because she was meant to go back in time during a catastrophe so she could help prepare the gang ahead of time to defeat Finneas and prevent said catastrophe and… yeah, it's pretty confusing, but we're denying logic here at the moment.

"I know… but there's a problem with the future," Tracker told them.

"Again?" Pugsy commented.

"Apparently, there always was one," Tracker pulled out a cam-corder, which held a video of an onslaught of violence, terror, and some weirdo streaking. "This is the year Astrid and Alan had left to travel back in time…"

"Oh, crud! Did they fade from existence?" Eric 'Antonio' Fangsworth (Formerly known as 'Baby Fangs', now 18), gasped.

"Aw man… and I was looking forward to having a half-brother-and-sister!" Kiff, the son of Pugsy, Brielle (and somewhat WG- long story), whined.

"You still do, knucklehead!" a voice snapped, and out from behind Tracker stepped a girl with black hair and a boy with blonde hair… and wolf ears and a tail. "And for the last time, our names are Jo and Sirius!"

"…And might I add it's weird that our mom reproduced with a cartoon-character she has never gotten along with?" Sirius questioned.

"I DID NOT!" came a booming voice, and WG stormed up. "I was his surrogate mom, I didn't take part in the… well, you know! …Good grief, did someone drop you on your head when you were born, son?"

"Nah, he just has that common cartoon-brid lack of intelligence," Nessie said.

Kiff glared at her- he and Nessie had a burning hatred for each other (though, Nessie wouldn't admit it, but she had slight feelings for Kiff). "Who let you in the story?!" he snapped.

"I don't mind!" Norm, Kiff and FF2's shared OC, piped up as he put an arm around Nessie… resulting in getting punched in the face. "…What a woman!"

"So what's wrong with the future, kids?" FF2 asked.

"Apparently, there's a kid missing from the future,." Jo told them, sheepishly. "You see, we sort of picked her up by accident during our time-travel…"

"We were going to take her back, honest! But some psycho-lady came tearing through the shadows and separated us from her!" Sirius stammered, then gave the authors a look. "And no, it wasn't that psychotic bitch, Kara."

"Darn, that was going to be my first guess." WG muttered, snapping her fingers.

"So who was it?" Scoobycool9 asked.

"We don't know… all we remember is that the kid hitched a ride with us in the TARDIS, ran out in Brooklyn while we were fending off the chick, and we never saw her again." Jo answered.

"I managed to come back in time and track her down. She's in the real-world, somewhere," Tracker answered.

"Why didn't you tell us this before you went back to your own time-period?!" Luckycool9 asked.

"Well GEE, LC9, it's hard to remember these sort of things when you're traveling back in time to help your parents, go through several years of turmoil and destruction, all the while try to pull off aliases and different identities, and restore your timeline! Wouldn't you AGREE?!" Sirius snapped.

The authors looked at one another. "Good point," they agreed together.

"So, what's this kid got to do with the destruction of the future?" Alexia asked.

"We don't know. Our dad just told us that we need to find her before that psycho-woman does first, tell her what's going on, take her back to her true time period..." Sirius began.

"Basically what I had to do," Tracker spoke up.

"So… how are we going to do it?" Gin, Biff's wife, asked.

"Well, from what we could figure out, someone took the kid into the real-world and she's been stuck there for the past few years. We should start there,"

"Already on it," WG said, opening a portal… to Amsterdam. "Whoops!"

Everyone arched an eyebrow, looking through the portal. "Um… what are those women doing in those windows?" Brielle questioned.

"CLOSE THE PORTAL, WG! THERE'S KIDS PRESENT!" Fangs shouted.

WG did so, blushing. "Sorry… I came close though, right?" she asked.

"Better let ME open the portals," FF2 said, having inherited portal-powers from Kiff, who inherited them from WG… once again, long story.

Opening the portal, they began to step through. "Better let me tag along, too." Scoobycool9 said. "I've had plenty of future-twisted experience myself… plus, I hardly get to see the real-world."

"You ain't missing much," Tracker told him, and the four authors stepped through the portal.

"I guess the rest of us should get started on finding answers in this world," Biff suggested.

"I'll call up Scooby and the gang… they won't want to miss this!" Alexia said, joyfully.

Everyone in the room dispersed, only Pugsy remained. "…Any chance they could cut me out of_ this_ story?" he asked the reader.

~0~

_Months later…_

The Mystery Inc. and Fangface gangs sat around the apartment lobby quietly, watching as the OC's walked in. "Well, no sign of them anywhere," Chance, Puggsy's younger, taller, and incredibly hansom brother sighed.

"We've searched the Kingdom Hearts realms, the Disney realms, the Nickelodeon realms… why, we even searched the HUB realms- not a trace of Shaun, Luna, Lizzy, or James anywhere!" Aaron sighed.

"Keep searching! They have GOT to be out there, somewhere!" Chris Howard demanded.

"Oh, great. Mom and Dad are MIA again…" Jo said to Sirius.

"Isn't there anywhere else to look?!" Kim asked, then turned to Kite, her husband. "Can't you use your bracelet to locate them or something?"

"I'm sorry, Kim, we've searched everywhere. They're nowhere to be found," Kite said, sadly.

"Man, talk about a lot of drama- and this is only the preface!" Shaggy commented.

"There is ONE place no one has looked…" came a disembodied voice, and the ghost of Edwin Miles Smith appeared, looking out a window.

Everyone stared at the ex-vampire, waiting for what he had to say.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting….

Still waiting…

"Well, are you going to TELL us?!" Nessie demanded.

"Yes, yes, I was just pausing for dramatic effect! Sheesh!" Edwin sneered. "I believe that, if you cannot find them anywhere in the tooniverse, it can only mean they're still in the real-world. If you seek them, they should be there."

"Well, lets load up the bags and head to reality, then!" Samantha, Fangs' twin sister, exclaimed.

"Uh, there's a slight problem with that idea, Sam." Erica 'Anne' Fangsworth, Eric's twin sister, spoke up. "How do we GET to the real-world? None of us know how to open a portal!"

"We could have if 'The Tortured Soul' here didn't give away his powers," Nessie commented, taking a shot at Kiff.

"I did it to save Silver, you poor excuse for an OC," Kiff sneered.

"You're one to talk- son of a cartoon character who's show only lasted two seasons,"

"Better than being the OC of a couple emos with no personality, who disgraced the vampire and werewolf communities!"

"…That retort was a little long, don't you think?"

"HEY! Save the rivalry for later, you two!" Matthew, Brielle's taller, hansom, twin brother snapped. "We've got a crisis at hand!"

"…Why can't the authors just set the two up and put an end to the headache?" Eric joked… and Kiff blasted him with a laser from his fist. "I WAS _JOKING_, KIFF!"

"Yeah, we all know his heart is set on Gwen… or Di… or…" Lilly, Fangs' oldest daughter, began to say, then rubbed her chin. "Geez, Kiff, how many love-interests do you have?"

Nessie smacked her upside the head. "I'M NOT HIS LOVE-INTEREST, NIMROD!" she snarled.

"Alright, alright, you both hate each other, we get it! Can we just stick to the plot at hand?!" Luckycool9 griped.

"Right. We have to find a way to get to reality… any ideas?" Alexia asked.

The door swung open just then as lightening flashed, and in walked a boy with hair blacker than ebony with green bangs, wearing a black T-shirt with a white star on it, black pants, boots, two rings on one hand and three on the other, black leather wristbands, a black ski-cap, and around his waist disguised as a belt was a black snake with silver outlines on its scales and yellow eyes.

"I suppose I could be of assistance," he said.

"Who are you?" Sirius asked.

"Ezekiel Joshua Zecheccariah, also known as Anti-Twilight Forever,"

~0~

**Yep, quite a bit to bite off for the prologue, but there's bigger things in store for… (sees Fangs trying to leave) HEY! Where do you think you're going?!**

**Fangs: There is NO WAY I'm sticking around for an 'M' rated story! I know what authors on this site write about with THAT warning sign!**

**Oh come on, Fangs, it's nothing bad. I'm not going to include anything perverted or lewd or 'mature'. I'm not that kind of writer,**

**Fangs: You promise?**

**Yeah.**

**Fangs: (walks back in) Okay, I'll stay.**

**Yep… the rating is just there for the language, violence, and traumatizing scenes we're about to face, but nothing that includes- OH GET BACK HERE, YOU PANSY!**

**Fangs: -is already out the door-**

***sigh* While I try to bring Fangs back, please review… but don't flame.**


	2. Chapter 1: Ezekiel Explains It All

**Well, hate to keep you all waiting, but I had to chase Fangs clear across the country (managed to catch him before he could reach Canada). Now that we're back, lets move on to the next chapter, shall we?**

**~1~**

_Author's POV_

I sat down in a large chair, sipping a cup of cappuccino, while my pet snake, Ryoji, slithered curiously along the floor… reason why a few cowardly characters were standing on chairs or sitting on someone's shoulders. "So tell me, my meddling friends, when did my dear sister and her comrades disappear?" I asked casually.

"A month ago, and we haven't heard any contact from them," Biff replied, and arched an eyebrow. "And where do you get off calling WG your sister?"

"Considering she shared your sister's heart, inherited by and passed down from Brielle, I have reasons to question that you're both blood-related- although, you both have similar appearances and both your mothers were counterparts, so I digress. Luna and I are twin siblings, having been born on the same day and have similar traits- we enjoy meddling kids shows, anime, drawing, fan-fiction, animals, and are often confused for the opposite gender, though it's more confusing in my case considering I'm bisexual."

Everyone arched eyebrows.

"I have no shame in admitting it. But, I didn't exactly come here to shoot the breeze, I came here because of a distress call from the future,"

"You got a call from the future?" Aaron asked me. "How?"

I sipped my cappuccino. "Well… I can see into the future (Ryoji, get out from under that rug, please)."

"Cool! My half-uncle is psychic!" Kiff exclaimed.

I chuckled. "Not necessarily- I only get glimpses of the future, sometimes at will, sometimes at random. The one I got recently was at random, while I was taking Ryoji on his walk, when an image of Elizabeth appeared in my mind, telling me the future was set off-balance (again)."

"She's right," Jo said, looking at a special time-belt she and her brother wore (in case, in some paradoxical event, they were to be wiped from existence), a little light on it blinking red. "Sirius and I are at risk of fading from existence,"

"The first time it happened, it was because Mom and Dad never found the tooniverse, and Finneas took over," Sirius added.

"But they know about the tooniverse and how to get here," Daphne spoke up. "What could be causing them to prevent you guys from existing?"

"Maybe someone got Shaun to wear a condom," Matthew joked, and Brielle nudged him.

"No… apparently, according to the message, they never met." I answered. "Though the past is still the way it was since Finneas' defeat, I can only guess that- while on their quest- someone must have ambushed them and either gave them amnesia, separated them for all eternity, or killed them- RYOJI! GET OUT OF THE PLANTS! Ugh, that snake of mine is always getting into things…"

"But what about my brother?" Aaron asked.

"And our daughter?" Kasandra added.

"James is probably in the same predicament as Luna and Shaun… though, considering Elizabeth was the one who sent me the message, she should be alright… despite in this time-period she was kidnapped, sent into the past, only to grow to a young teenager during the time that Finneas ruled- which no longer exists, so she's probably…" I rubbed my head. "Anyone else getting confused by the time-setting here?"

"So all we have to do is go to reality, find the authors, and everything will be fine, right?" Chance asked.

"Wrong,"

"Huh?"

I paced across the room. "It turns out, my sister missed a bit of logic- other than the mathematics of time-travel- in her MIF series. Pugs, do you remember when Lamone gave you his heart in Part Two?"

"And invaded my mental privacy, yeah. What about it?" Pugsy questioned.

"And Laura gave Brielle her heart, then it was transferred to Luna, correct?"

"Yes… where are you going with this?" Brielle asked.

"And Max Goof also gave his heart to Shaun-"

"Just tell us what's going on!" Nessie snapped.

I rolled my eyes. "In Kingdom Hearts, when that happens, a Nobody is created, meaning that we have three- maybe four- Nobodies running around… and one of them was found and taken in by Organization XIII and turned evil,"

"Twenty bucks says it's WG's," Pugsy commented.

"I'm more afraid of what yours and Lamone's would be like," Fangs said.

"Speaking of which, where IS that Barnabas Collins knock-off?" I asked.

"Turn around," came a voice, and no surprise there was that Pugsy-Meets-Larten-Crepsly character now. "And I'd prefer it if you didn't give me ridiculous nicknames, for the sake of your life,"

I mocked a bow. "Yes, oh silent-but-deadly one…"

He glared at me. "You obviously have a death-wish, don't you?"

I grinned. "Is it that hard to notice? Not exactly easy to grant,"

"Oh, really? We'll see about that,"

"Go ahead," He slammed his fist on top of my head, and I could feel my skull crack… but it quickly healed, though I was a bit dazed. "Is that all you got?"

"No, but I am willing to kill you if you find it to your liking,"

"I do,"

"Are you insane?!" Alexia scoffed.

"No… it's just part of who I am. …Hey, Chase, shoot me."

"What?!" Chase, transformed from his human form upon my arrival, questioned.

"Just do it. Right in the forehead,"

He drew his gun. "Are you sure…?"

"Go for it,"

"Alright… if you please…"

*BANG!*

I heard a few screams as the bullet struck me in the forehead, and everything turned red, then to black.

~1~

_3__rd__ Person POV_

Everyone stared in disbelief. "Chase, how could you?!" Alexia snapped.

"He asked for it! Literately!" Chase stammered.

"Look!" Lilly gasped.

The blood that spilled from Ezekiel's forehead quickly retracted, as the wound healed itself. The author awoke, and batted the side of his head, the bullet popping out of his ear. "Ta-da!" he exclaimed. "It's basically a gift I have- I can't die,"

Jaws dropped, no one could blink… and Fangs, Scooby-Doo, and Shaggy fainted.

"Holy shit, that is AWESOME!" Aaron exclaimed. "…So, does this mean you're also a master of Death, like Scoobycool9?"

Ezekiel shook his head. "Nah… otherwise I'd be harassing the Grim Reaper with Billy and Mandy," he replied. "I don't really know how it happens… I first found it out when I was seven and got hit by a truck- it's also the day I learned adults never joke about looking both ways before crossing the street. …But, before we get off-topic, it's time to discuss the situations at-hand. We have four missing authors, a child from the future lost in the present, long-lost Nobodies loose, and a disrupted future in need of mending. I propose we split up,"

"Who died and made you leader?" Nessie sneered. I snapped my fingers, using my author-powers to turn her hair into a bushy pink mess (Kiff got a kick out of this). She quickly fixed her hair. "Alright, alright! We can split up! Sheesh…"

"Good. Now, considering the Nobodies are OC, I think the other OC should search for them, with help from anyone from the gang- except for Kite, Kasandra, and Brielle. Being the cartoon-counterparts of three of the missing authors, we may need your help in finding them and getting them back; Scooby, considering you and James have a close relationship, we'll need you and Shaggy to tag along; Fangs, Liz is your daughter, so you should come along too- along with Pugsy, just for the fact that Luna will love to harass him, and would hate it if I separated you two on a case."

"Oh, I feel special," Pugsy sneered.

"But what if we need Pugsy when we encounter his Nobody?" Chance asked.

Ezekiel pondered this. "Hardy can stay behind!" he said, snapping his fingers. "Along with Drew, too."

"That's the best offer I've had all week," Pugsy said, then took out his wand and separated himself and Brielle from their werewolf halves, Hardy and Drew.

"Gonna miss being part of you, too!" Hardy growled, sarcastically.

"So how are we going to find these Nobodies?" Nessie questioned.

"I'd suggest searching near Organization XIII," Chance suggested. "I was undercover there, and I'm sure Lea and Roxas can help us through it,"

"Lets get moving, then." Lamone said, and he, Edwin, Matthew, Kiff, Nessie, Norm, Eric, Erica, Lilly, Brody, Drew, Hardy, Chase, Jo, Sirius, and Chance left.

"The rest of you, round up the other meddlers. Whoever is after that missing kid could be lurking somewhere around here," Ezekiel said.

"Hold it, who exactly could be after the authors?" Freddy asked.

"Oh, yeah, almost forgot that detail…" Ezekiel dug into his pocket, pulling out a picture of a woman with tan skin, black hair, and bright green eyes, wearing tight black pants and a black tanktop. "This is the woman who was after the missing kid, I'd consider her a prime-suspect. You find the woman, and we might find the kid AND the authors,"

"And what are the rest of us going to do?" Aaron asked.

I smirked, and a portal opened behind us. "We, my friends, are going to reality."

~1~

**And our adventure is off to a start. You probably noticed I only selected only a few OC from the stories- namely because I didn't want to include too many and lose track; Also, I'm referring to the authors by our aliases (though most of the characters will refer to them by their pennames), just because it sounds cool. How will our journeys end up? Stay tuned!**


	3. Chapter 2: Meet the East Side Kids

**Well guys, a freak blizzard has blown in, so I'll be up a little late tonight writing this new chapter. May it bring warmth and cheer to you all.**

**ALSO, I'll be referring to the authors by their aliases, just for the fact that it's cool. Here is a key for you all to look at in case you forget:**

**-Ezekiel (Anti-Twilight Forever (me!)) *ATF for short**

**-Aaron (Luckycool9) *LC9 for short**

**-James (Scoobycool9) *SC9 for short**

**-Alexia (NarniaCrazyGirl) *NCG**

**-Liz (Tracker78) *Tracker**

**-Luna (Wherever Girl) *WG**

**-Shaun (Fangface the Second) *FF2**

**~2~**

"Um… what do you mean, 'the real world'?" Pugsy questioned, staring at the portal that appeared behind Ezekiel.

"I mean the place opposite of the cartoon world, complete with immorality, chaos, depression, and poorly written movies based off old cartoons." Ezekiel answered, having Ryoji slither back around his waist.

"I know what the real-world is!"

"…No you don't. You've never been there,"

"He's got a point there," Aaron said.

"Ah, shut up! How's come Shaggy, Scooby, Fangs and I have to go with?" Pugsy demanded.

"Like I said before, you guys have a close connection to my sister and her friends," Ezekiel replied. "Now are we going, or what? Because this portal won't stay open for long, and we gotta meet up with some friends of mine pretty soon,"

"Hold it…" Alexia spoke up, tapping Ezekiel on his shoulder. "Isn't it dangerous for cartoons to go into the real world? I mean, you've seen the live-action _Fat Albert_ movie, haven't you?"

"Oh, that's right… Well, we're not planning on staying there, long. And if our time starts running long, we can always come back to the tooniverse before anything bad happens."

"Whoa, hold it! What do you MEAN by 'anything bad'?" Shaggy asked, startled.

"Yeah, what may happen to us if we don't come back in time?" Pugsy demanded.

"Rhere was a rive-raction _Rat Ralbert_ rovie?" Scooby asked.

"Oh, you'll just disappear into particles, that's all." Ezekiel replied with a shrug.

"WHAT?!" Brielle, Kasandra, and Kite shouted, while the toons' mouths hung agape.

"Don't worry, it won't happen unless they're there for more than three days- and we'll have found everyone before then," Ezekiel assured.

"What about the OTHER thing?" Aaron added, hands on hips.

"Oh, right. Reality might take an effect on you and also turn you out-of-character, as well, up until you return to the tooniverse. It's like… a badly written fan-fic."

"That's it. I'm not going." Fangs said, crossing his arms.

"Really, Fangs? You're just going to abandon your daughter- whom, I should add, has recently gone missing TWICE now in this time period- just because you're afraid of a couple risks?"

"_He's got a point, Fangs." _Fangface added. _"Besides, I always wanted to know what I'd look like live-action! *grr*"_

Fangs let out a long, heavy sigh. "Alright… But we'd better find her before my clothes start looking bleached!" he said, sternly.

"What about us?" Kite asked, referring to himself, Kassy, and Brielle.

"You guys are based off the authors, you're their counterparts, their OC- you'll be fine." Aaron said.

"Now lets get a move on, we haven't got any time to waste," Ezekiel said.

Together, they all stepped through the portal.

_[insert awesome toon-to-live portal sequence here]_

"WhoooOOOOAAAAH!" All the toons screamed, feeling their skin, bones, hair, organs, and clothing shift wildly as they stepped through, and suddenly, they all blacked out once they entered reality.

"First-timers," Ezekiel scoffed.

"Where are we?" Kassy asked, looking around, seeing they were near some woods, on the edge of a large city.

"You're in reality Brooklyn, my dear- my hometown." Ezekiel looked at his watch. "Yow, and we gotta go find my friends! NCG, you and the OC stay with the toon-heads. LC9, you come with me,"

"Okay, hurry back!" Brielle called.

"Hey, ATF, can I ask you something?" Aaron said as he followed the short boy around a corner. "Having lived in the tooniverse practically my whole life, what happens when a real-world person- other than an author- stumbles into the tooniverse?"

"Oh, that's simple. You see, when someone from reality first comes to the toon-world, they slowly become a toon themselves, if they stay more than three days." Ezekiel answered. "I found this out when I first brought my friends with me to show them it existed- they remained in real-form the first couple days, but after that, *poof*, they're toonerized."

"Yeah… by the way, who ARE your friends?"

"You'll know 'em once you meet 'em." Ezekiel stopped after they cut through an alley, and looked around. "Huh, weird… they were supposed to meet me here."

"Where are they?"

Suddenly, a police-whistle blew, and a gang of teenage boys raced by. "There they are! HEY GUYS! WAIT UP! WHAT'S THE RUSH?"

"Better split, Zeke! The coppers are real sore today!" A teen with short, curly blonde hair called.

"Stop right there, you bunch of gorillas!" A cop shouted as he and his deputy raced after them.

Ezekiel shook his head. "(Looks like the gang's got into trouble again…) C'mon, we'd better help them out," he said to Aaron, and took off down the street.

"Help them OUT?" Aaron questioned.

[Now Playing: _Tramps Like Us _by Bruce Springsteen]

There were six boys in the gang, one of them being shorter than the rest (though taller than Ezekiel) and the leader. "Time to split up, guys!" he called, and he ran left with a boy with short brown hair wearing a striped shirt and a taller boy wearing a sweater and a cap with the bill bent upward. The other three consisted of a boy with dark hair, the curly-blonde, and a black boy wearing a cap also with the bill bent upward.

"I'll go after those goons, you go after their pals!" The officer ordered his partner, and they split up.

Ezekiel and Aaron took shortcuts through alleys, across small backyards, and even went as far as climbing up a fire-escape (to see where his friends were running) and climbing through an open window of the building to cut across to the other side. "Sorry about that!" Aaron called to the patron of the building, who cursed at them and shook his fist. "Do you have to take shortcuts through everything?!"

"Heh, you should see it when I get in trouble," Ezekiel joked, and they raced downstairs and out a back door, running over to a junkyard where they ducked behind a fence, moving a loose board. "Skinny! Peewee! Scruno! Over here!"

The blonde, dark haired, and black boy all paused, then slid through the opening, hiding from the cop that was after them. "Boy, are we glad you showed up. Where've you been, Zeke?" Scruno asked, then noticed Aaron. "And who's this?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get the others,"

"They ran down 36th Ave.," Skinny answered.

"Good, I know where they're heading. C'mon!"

"Huh boy…" Aaron sighed, tired of so much running- and the action had barely begun!

Back with the other three, they were racing down an alley. "This way!" The short one called, running to the left… but the boy in the cap accidentally ran the other way! However, it was a good thing, considering they had come across a dead end. "Crap, wrong direction!"

[End song]

"You boys are in for it now…" The officer snapped, grabbing them by their shirts. "Just wait until-"

"Officer, come quick!" Aaron shouted, running down the alley. "Some nut-job is causing a riot at the drug store on the corner! The lunatic has a gun!"

The officer sneered at the two boys. "I'll deal with you two later… Lets go, kid!" Aaron lead him out of the alley…

…doubling back, as Ezekiel met up with him. "Good, now lets get out of here before he finds out we duped him," Ezekiel said, and they caught up with the other two boys and ran out of the alley and down the street, back toward the others.

"I don't see why I had to fool him…" Aaron muttered.

"Because the cops know me and probably wouldn't believe me, doy!"

"Hey, Zeke, are you going to introduce us to your friend, or what?" The short boy demanded.

"Oh, right." Ezekiel stopped them. "Aaron, these are my friends- Skinny, Scruno, Peewee, Danny, and Muggsy- known as the East Side Kids or The Bowery Boys. Guys, this is Aaron, he's a friend from the toon-world."

"Nice to meet you," Danny, the boy in the striped shirt, said as he shook Aaron's hand.

"These are all your friends, huh?" Aaron asked.

"You'd better believe it," Ezekiel said, proudly.

"Wait… wasn't there six of you?"

Everyone looked around. "Ah, crud. Where'd Glimpy go?!" Peewee asked.

"The lame-brain probably was dumb enough to get help from the cops to get away from the cops," Muggsy, the short one and leader, sneered. "He'll turn up sooner or later. In the meantime, Zeke, why don't you fill us in on where you've been the past couple days, you missed one of our baseball playoffs."

"Family emergency, guys. You know WG, my sis from the toon-world? Apparently, she and a few other friends went missing, and they're in this world somewhere. I was hoping you could help us out in searching for them,"

Muggsy crossed his arms. "What's in it for us?"

"A ticket away from getting thrown back in reform school."

Muggsy arched an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Alright, sounds good."

"Great. Some of our other friends are waiting for us, we gotta get back to them. This way,"

They ran down the street where Alexia, Kite, Kassy, and Brielle were waiting for them… and all looking distressed. "Guys! What's going on?" Aaron asked, concerned.

"We turned our backs for two seconds and the others went missing, that's what!" Brielle replied.

"To clarify, Scooby woke up first and started barking at something in the trees, and we went to check it out and found nothing. When we came back, Scooby, Shaggy, Pugs, and Fangs vanished!" Alexia explained.

"Ah, c'mon! The story's barely started and ALREADY _**MORE**_ people are missing?!" Aaron snapped, then grabbed Ezekiel by the shirt. "What kind of writer ARE you?!"

"Hey, hey, calm down! We'll find them!" Ezekiel snapped. "But we won't get it done with you criticizing my style of writing… neener-head."

"Well, lets get searching then," Muggsy said, and everyone split up and began to search the area.

~2~

**If none of you heard of the characters mentioned, you can look them up on Youtube. You may not be into the old 1940's kinds of movies, but **_**The East Side Kids **_**is worth the entertainment with its acting and witty humor, I can promise you that.**

**I also borrowed the song-insertion from Rabbit '91's "Nocturne" story… just because I didn't feel like writing lyrics. (Yes, there will be some musical chapters in the story, but not as many as the inspired stories- and I will be only including Oldies songs, with a few exceptions).**

**Anyway, please review but don't flame.**


	4. Chapter 3: Searching for Nobody

**Hey, guys. Just got back from seeing Rise of the Guardians… It was awesome, expect cameos later on.**

**On to the next chapter… where we get a view of the OC.**

**~3~**

"Are we there yet?" Lilly groaned as she walked with the other OC.

"Almost," Matthew replied.

"That's what you said six realms ago,"

They were now in the Kingdom Hearts realm, walking across a wide, green field. They had just gotten back from searching near Castle Oblivion, yet found nothing. "How do we know where to find them, anyway?" Nessie asked. "Let alone what they look like?"

"Well, if it helps, one will look dashingly hansom, like myself." Norm boasted. Nessie only rolled her eyes.

"And the others will look like WG and FF2," Sam added.

"You would think so," Lamone responded, as if the others had requested a banana at a shop that sold oranges.

"What do you mean, uncle?" Kiff asked.

"Wherever mine and the other's Nobodies ended up, their forms may have changed. When a cartoon lives in a different realm for an extended period of time, their appearance shifts to match the design of said realm. For instance, if you and Lilly lived in the anime realm in Ouran for, say, an entire year- no visiting home or anything- you'd have become anime characters. …And don't call me 'uncle'."

"_Oooooh_, anime!" Lilly and Kiff said together.

"Don't get any ideas, you two." Chance warned. "Your parents would murdify us if we brought you back, looking like something out of a manga."

"I ask again, how will we know what they look like?" Nessie asked.

"Well, the fan-art section on DeviantArt might help," Eric suggested, holding a laptop and scrolling through fan-arts. His eyes widened. "Holy cow…" he quickly shut it. "People on that sight sure have dark tastes."

"Think about what Roxxy and Severus looked like, when the authors fused with their OC." Erica suggested. "That would be a good example,"

"On WG and Brielle's part, but the others will be different- we're talking about combinations of FF2 and Max Goof, and Lord knows what Pugs and Lamone's will look like," Chase added.

"Ugly, if that helps," Nessie joked. Lamone gave her a death glare, which made her heart freeze. "Um… no offense, Lamone."

Kiff smirked. "Scared of my uncle, Ness?" he teased. Lamone gave his nephew a look, then transformed into a bat. "GAH!"

"Scared of your uncle, Mr. Tortured Soul?"

"Guys, I swear to God, if you don't cut it out, I'm going to talk the authors into setting you up as a couple!" Chase snarled. "Don't forget, Scoobycool9 has it as an idea for an _alternate reality_ in his series!"

Kiff and Nessie remained silent. "…So, would the other reality involve me having her?" Norm inquired, sticking his hand in the air. Nessie punched his lights out.

"I'd stay focused on getting numbers from the _Totally Spies_ girls, Norm." Kiff told him.

"_Totally Spies_? I thought he was aiming for the ones from _Magipoka_." Lilly piped up.

"I thought he was trying to get a number from Taffy in the Teen Angels," Erica said.

"I heard he was putting the moves on Audrey from _Atlantis: The Lost Empire," _Sam added.

"Yeah, she punched his lights out after she caught him sweet-talking to Melody," Cassie put in.

"And you thought I had a lot of love-interests," Kiff sneered at Lilly.

"So I'm not the only girl you've tried to go steady with," Nessie scoffed at Norm.

"Don't be jealous, baby- I'm a player. It just comes naturally," Norm said, shrugging.

Nessie rolled her eyes, then turned to Kiff. "He's your OC, alright."

"AND half of FF2's," Kiff pointed out.

"Hey, we can talk about Norm's social life, later." Matthew said. "Right now, we've got to track down those Nobodies,"

"Maybe we'll have more luck if we turn into werewolves," Lilly suggested.

"Alright, let me take out a picture of the moon," Cassie said, taking out a picture of the moon.

In a blur, a figure raced past, and suddenly the picture fell to the ground, shredded. "What in the…?!" Gin gasped.

They looked, seeing a shadowed figure watching them, grinning, then taking off in a blur.

"I believe we've found our first Nobody," Lamone said, taking out his keyblade. "And if my guess is correct, he doesn't want our werewolves to show up,"

"He's got another thing coming, then." Matthew scoffed, nudging Kiff. He and his nephew then transformed into Nightclaw and Kiffang, having the ability to transform at will. Cassie transformed into Shadowslasher, her she-wolf half, and Norm changed into his kretin half, Stud.

"Lets go," Chase said, and they ran after the figure.

Lilly turned to Sam, Eric, and Erica. "How come we haven't mastered that, yet?" she asked.

"Less talk, more chase." Eric said, deciding to ignore the question.

Nessie sprouted her own wings, being somewhat of a kretin, only half-human/half-kretin (say maybe, 50 percent human, 25 percent vampire, and 25 percent werewolf… I have no idea how it works, just go with it). She used her wolf-vision to spot the figure, then dove and tackled them. With a few "Oofs!", "Acks!", and "Ows!", they tumbled downhill, and she pinned him… though after getting a good look, her eyes bugged out.

"HEY! WHEREVER BOY!" she called. "Did you ever share a heart with anyone?!"

"Not that I can recall, why?" Kiffang replied back as he and the others caught up.

Nessie then stood up, holding their attacker by the back of their shirt. "Then why do you have a Nobody?!"

The others looked, seeing she was holding a boy with Kiff's blonde hair, but with a bit of black at the tips of his bangs, and had black eyes. The other difference was he wore glasses and wore a red corduroy shirt and black pants. "Uh, hi… I'm Fikk," he said, awkwardly.

"How on earth did I get a Nobody?" Kiffang questioned. "I didn't lose or gain a heart!"

"Well, there's a different way in a child gaining a Nobody…" came a voice, and everyone looked over, seeing two anime characters, one looking like Roxxy but with red hair with blonde at the tip of her bangs, wearing a long purple tunic with light-purple tights and matching knee-high boots. The other stood at her height if not two inches taller, with a muscular build, and black hair with dark-purple bangs, wearing a black sleeveless T-shirt, black jeans with a white belt, and black boots- he was the one who spoke. "Which brings me to the question- why are you attacking our son?"

~3~

**First of all- Don't kill me, WG.**

**Well, there's another cliffhanger for you. Next chapter, we'll get to the original cartoons (deciding to split the story into three's just so no characters feel left out). **

**In the meantime, you guys can lend me ideas on what kind of Nobody names I can use for the others. There's four left: Pugsy/Lamone's, Brielle/Laura's, Laura/WG's, and FF2/Max's.**

**In the meantime, please review… no flames please.**


	5. Chapter 4: Introducing the Other Gangs

**Alright, guys, here's the next chapter. Might be a short one, considering I'm still trying to come up with a better role for the rest of the meddlers (been more focused on the Nobodies and East Side Kids, shame on me). **

**Also, thank you Scoobycool9 and Wherever Girl for the suggestion of Nobody names.**

~4~

Biff, Kim, Daphne, Freddy, and Velma drove across the Ruby-Spears/Hanna-Barbera parts of the tooniverse. They had been driving all night… namely because Freddy accidentally made a wrong turn and they ended up driving through the Nicktoon counties. "Josie told me that all the meddlers were getting together in the park, as some sort of charity concert." Daphne said, having texted her friend. "They said it's to help raise money to support homeless people."

"We'll head there, then." Biff said, then turned to Freddy. "I'LL drive,"

Freddy rolled his eyes. "I managed to find a shortcut through Dimsdale, didn't I?" he sneered.

They pulled up, seeing a crowd of meddlers gathered around a large stage. On said stage were four different music groups: Josie and the Pussycats, The Teen Angels, The Neptunes, and the Chan Band. "Hey, guys!" Tinker called, standing beside Speed Buggy. "We were wondering if any of ya'll were gonna show up… Say, where's the rest of your gangs? Fangs and Kassy doing alright? I heard about what happened…"

"That's actually why we've come here," Kim told him. "You see, a few of our author friends are missing, there's a kid missing from the future, and we have four Nobodies to find… there's just so much going on and we could really use all the help we can get,"

"Well, golly, that sure is a lot to put into one story, don't you think? Reminds me of this movie I saw- plot jumped around so much, I forgot what it was supposed to be about. …We'd be willing to help, right Speedy?"

"*sputter* Of course! What do you need us to do?" Speed Buggy replied. Before anyone could reply, however, the music started.

[Now Playing: "We Built This City/We're Not Gonna Take It" mash-up, from _Rock of Ages_]

All the meddlers who weren't in the bands danced to the music… though during the second verse, Alexandra tried to steal the spotlight from Josie, only to end up having a sing-off with Shelly, both of them eventually shoving each other off the stage.

The Pussycats and Teen Angels shared the fourth verse, while the Neptunes and Chan Band closed it out, Stanley Chan playing a guitar with all his talent… and trying to dive off the stage to crowd-surf once the song had ended, only to end up hitting dirt. Everyone cheered for the bands, all except Alexandra and Shelly- who were too busy insulting each other for 'a bad performance'.

[End song]

"Excuse me, everyone!" Biff called, climbing onto the stage and grabbing the microphone. "Can I get your attention, please!"

"What is it?" Biff 2 (from Jabberjaw) asked… and I can only say that it is going to get really confusing from this point on.

"We need your help. This woman is loose- she's after some child who was taken from the future and was lost in the past, and we believe she has also done something to our Author friends. Anti-Twilight Forever, Luckycool9, and NarniaCrazyGirl are with our friends in reality, searching for them. But whoever is behind their disappearance may still be in our world, and we could really use your help in tracking her down."

"We'll help you, you can count on us!" Josie replied.

"Same here!" Taffy agreed.

"Sure, we'll do it!" Henry Chan said.

"Why not?" Clamhead shrugged.

With all their friends agreeing to help, Biff grinned. Perhaps they had a chance.

That is, until everyone noticed a large shadow looming over them, shrouding them in darkness.

~4~

**Like I said, short chapter, and in need of plot-development. We'll get to some more action later on… next chapter, we find out what happened to Shaggy, Fangs, and Puggsy.**


	6. Chapter 5: Encountering Confusion

**Well, guys, here's a rapid update. I've decided to make it to where we get a view of the other characters every three chapters- just to add in enough action for everyone.**

~5~

_She ran as fast as she could, her ankle aching as she had a slight limp, though she could not use her cane to help her balance- she had to use it for defense. The snarling increased behind her and she turned sharply, zig-zagging through the trees until she stopped behind one to catch her breath, careful not to breathe too loudly. Ever so carefully, she looked out the corner of her eye at the creature that was chasing her… seeing it turn its head, facing her._

"ZEKE!"

"Whoa!" Ezekiel gasped, looking around, realizing he had slipped into another vision while the others were explaining what was going on. "I'm sorry, I appeared to have drifted into an interlude,"

"What did you see?" Kassy asked.

"It was a bit dark, but apparently it was either Liz, Alexia, or Luna in a park, running from something vicious,"

"Well, I'm right here, so it wasn't me." Alexia scoffed.

"Whoever it was, they must be in trouble," Kite said.

"Not yet, Kite. Like I said, it was a vision- a glimpse of what is to happen," Ezekiel clarified. "If we can find our friends in time, it might just change."

"Well, what the fuck are we standing around here for?! My husband and twin are missing, lets go find them already!" Brielle snapped, and it was obvious she hated how the plot was slightly paused for such a short conversation, granting her lack of patience. "…And watch what you're typing, ATF. Just because you're WG's brother doesn't mean I won't shove my dagger through your ear,"

"To tell the truth, you wouldn't be the first one."

"I'm with the feisty chick, lets find these missing friends of yours." Mugsy said.

"You think we should change into werewolves to help track them down?" Kite asked.

"Uh, bad idea, Kite." Aaron answered. "Here, in reality, people wouldn't take to seeing werewolves walking about- unlike in the tooniverse, they'd most likely panic and shoot you on sight."

"Not to mention animals are often the first to get OOC in reality," Alexia added. "Found that out when we saw what happened with Scooby,"

"What happened with Scooby?"

Everyone looked at Scooby, who looked like a real-life Great Dane with brown fur and three black spots on his back, wearing his trademark collar… and looking nothing like the CGI image Hollywood made. He sniffed along, deciding to find the scent, then began to bark, then lifted his paw and stuck his head outward (a dog's way of 'pointing').

"He can't speak?" Kassy guessed.

"The vocal cords are the first to go," Ezekiel sighed. "Luckily, he can still think like a human… but it's only a matter of time before he starts to become a real dog, and then fade away to oblivion. …But on the positive side, he has a trace on our friends,"

The group followed Scooby, who lead them toward town. "So you're werewolves, huh?" Danny asked Kassy. "Zeke did say something about that when he first showed us the toon-world,"

"You took them to the tooniverse?" Kite asked Ezekiel.

"Yeah, but at a bad time." Peewee answered. "We're stepping through this portal one minute, but just as it closes a giant one opens in the sky and sucks us into this creepy place, full of hallways and secret passages and spooks of every kind!"

"I'll say- I even spotted Jason Voorhees stalking around," Skinny added, giving a shudder.

Kassy, Brielle, and Kite paused. "How long ago was this?" Brielle asked.

"I'd say, maybe… 15 years ago, or something like that?"

"During Missing In Fiction, Part One." Ezekiel added. "We were sucked into Darkarai's temple,"

"How come we never saw you before?!" Brielle asked.

"Dude, it was a big temple! You could have fit the whole population of Australia in there!"

"And it turns out we ended up separated," Mugsy added. "I managed to find Glimpy, and we walked around looking for the others… along the way we saw a bunch of weird black creatures with no eyes, kept hearing evil cackling, and kept falling through these trap doors into different floors. I think the only time we saw anything human was when we bumped into these two cartoon guys- a tall skinny yut and a short jerk who I didn't want nothing to do with."

Aaron, Alexia, and Ezekiel rolled their eyes, deciding not to say anything… just yet.

"By the time we managed to get back together, the whole place started caving in, and we barely made it out alive," Scruno added. "And boy, I tell you what, I was never happier to see Zeke open a portal back home. He didn't want us talking to anyone else about it, them thinking we'd be crazy, and I agreed not to say a word- I never wanted to talk about it, so I wouldn't have to remember it."

"You have to admit it was pretty fun," Ezekiel said with a shrug.

"Yeah, as fun as jumping into a pit of snakes," Mugsy sneered.

Scooby stopped just then, sniffing to the left, then to the right, unable to decided which way to go. "Looks like Scooby needs us to split up," Alexia figured.

"We'll take the left, you guys take the right. We'll meet in the middle in an hour,"

"Sounds like a plan, lets go." Aaron agreed, and he, Ezekiel, Alexia, Kassy, Kite, and Brielle went down the right path with Scooby, while the East Side Kids went left.

~5~

Glimpy kept running until his legs began to ache, leaning against a brick wall that was part of what used to be a tall building, now demolished. "I thought I'd never lose those cops," he wheezed, then looked around. "…Looks like I lost Mugsy and Danny along the way… *gulp* I'd better find 'em before Mugs finds me first and pummels me for outrunning them,"

"Ohh… what hit me last night?" came a groan from behind the wall.

Glimpy looked over, seeing a teenage boy with short black hair, wearing a red shirt, brown pants, a gray fedora… and looking very familiar. "Mugsy! Hey, I was just looking for you!" he walked over to him, helping him to his feet. "I thought I outran you, but I guess you ran ahead of me… and changed your clothes all the while- how'd you do that?"

"What are you talking about, meathead? I've been wearing these clothes all day! And I didn't run nowheres! I was passed out! …And speaking of clothing, since when did you start wearing long-sleeved shirts and your cap forwards?"

"Um… as long as I've been here? You feeling okay?"

"Never mind, lets just find out where the others are,"

"Sure thing, Mugsy."

The teen gave Glimpy a look. "It's 'Pugsy', you dimwit! Sheesh, Fangs, you're acting a lot dumber than usual…"

Glimpy arched an eyebrow. _Since when did he start calling me 'Fangs'? _he wondered.

~5~

The others followed Scooby to a park, where Shaggy lied under a tree… though he looked closer to Nick Palatas than Matthew Lillard, his hair still its shaggy-style, and his eyes were more of a dark-green. "Shaggy! Are you alright?" Aaron gasped, running up to him and shaking him awake.

"Like, I'm fine…" Shaggy answered, a bit dazed. "That trip through the portal really takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?"

"Only the first time. You'll get used to it," Ezekiel told him.

"Shaggy, do have any idea how you got separated from us?" Kassy asked.

Shaggy rubbed his head. "Not really, I blacked out… but I have a blurred memory of being carried, and hearing this snarling sound, but when I opened my eyes, all I saw were you guys coming toward me." he replied. "Why?"

"Someone must have tried to kidnap our toon-friends," Aaron guessed, rubbing his chin. "Question is, who and why?"

"We can ask questions AFTER we find my husband," Kassy said. "C'mon, lets get back to the East Side Kids and see if they've found Fangs or Pugsy,"

~5~

The East Side Kids did find one of the toons… they just didn't know it.

It didn't dawn upon them that they didn't even know what the missing toons looked like, until they were back in town. "Dang it! We forgot to ask Zeke what those two toons look like!" Mugsy snapped.

"Well, they're cartoons, right? Just look for anyone who doesn't look like a real person," Scruno joked.

"Very funny. The only person I know who comes close to looking like a cartoon would be-"

"Glimpy!" Skinny gasped.

"…I was going to say Scruno, here, but I suppose he does too-"

"No, there's Glimpy, right over there!" Skinny pointed ahead.

In the middle of an alley lied a teenager with short, curly brown hair, wearing a red cap backwards… and looking a LOT like Glimpy. "Ooh, ooh, my head…" he groaned, sitting up. "Next time, we're taking a train…"

"Glimpy, are you alright? What happened?" Peewee asked once the rest of the gang ran over.

"I don't know… but I feel like I've been dragged two miles," he paused, looking at them all. "Um, who are you guys?"

"It's us, Glimpy, your old pals! Scruno, Danny, Mugsy, Skinny, Peewee…" Danny told him, motioning to himself and the others. "Don't you remember?"

"No… and how come you keep calling me 'Glimpy'?"

"Someone must've given him amnesia- he can't rememorize anything!" Mugsy figured. "C'mon, pal, we'll get your mind back in-order… maybe even fix it to where you can think straight, for once!"

The teen arched an eyebrow. "I remember who you are,"

"Hey, what do you know? His head is finally clearing up!"

"Yeah, yeah it is! But, I gotta know… who are the rest of these guys, Pugs? And what happened to the others? Huh? Huh? What's going on, Pugsy? What?"

The East Side kids exchanged glances. "Glimpy, I think you got your pronouns off. I'm 'Mugsy', with an 'M',"

"I think yours is off too. I'm Fangs… with an 'F',"

Mugsy rubbed his face. "Good grief, you nitwit, did a wrecking ball hit you in the head?! You're not making any sense!"

"You're one to talk- I keep getting confused!"

"That's no surprise. Enough with the jabber, we gotta get back to finding those other missing saps Ezekiel was talking about… maybe one of them is a psychiatrist,"

"Maybe we should get back to Ezekiel, and see if they've found anyone yet." Danny suggested as they walked down the street.

"Yeah, he can give us a good description," Scruno added as they passed by a demolished building… and Glimpy started following them. "He knows what they look like better than we do,"

"What who looks like?" Glimpy asked, curiously.

"Oh you know, those missing friends Zeke brought from the toon… world… place…" Scruno paused, looking at Glimpy behind him… then looking at Fangs in front of him. "What in the world?"

"What's going… on?" Danny asked, turning around, and he realized why Scruno was so shocked, as well as Peewee and Skinny.

"Hey, guys, you coming or what?" Mugsy asked when he heard the rest of the gang wasn't walking. He turned around, seeing them all staring at something, and rolled his eyes, pulling Fangs along and pushing through them. "Alright, what's the big deal all about?"

"Hey, how you stopped walkifying, meathead?" Pugsy asked, walking around Glimpy…

Within that second, Pugsy and Fangs were standing in front of Mugsy and Glimpy, standing as if they were looking at their reflections, all of them stunned. "Are you boys seeing… what I'm seeing?" Scruno whispered.

Fangs gulped. Glimpy blinked a few times.

Mugsy and Pugsy, on the other than, merely shouted, "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

~5~

**Wherever Girl gave me the idea… and yes I did make a reference to one of her stories, and yes it is going to be quite interesting from this point on. **

**As for the questions: Who tried to separate the toons? Will we ever hear Scooby speak again? What was the vision about? And how many more shocks await our heroes?**

**Answers… will come later. ^-^**


	7. Chapter 6: On With The Search!

**Alright, lets see how the toons and their twins take to their encounter, shall we?**

~6~

"I think they're this way," Ezekiel said as they walked down the street.

"Are you sure?" Shaggy asked.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" came the shout that was heard at the end of the last chapter.

"Yep, I recognize that bellow anywhere," Kite said. "C'mon,"

~6~

Fangs stared at Glimpy.

Mugsy stared at Pugsy.

Glimpy stared at Fangs.

Pugsy stared at Mugsy.

Scruno and Danny stared at Mugsy and Pugsy.

Skinny and Peewee stared at Fangs and Glimpy.

Mugsy turned his gaze to Glimpy, then to Fangs.

Fangs turned his gaze to Pugsy, then to Mugsy.

Pugsy turned his gaze to Fangs, then to Glimpy.

Glimpy turned his gaze to Mugsy, then to Pugsy.

Peewee and Skinny turned their gaze to Pugsy and Mugsy.

Scruno and Danny turned their gaze to Glimpy and Fangs.

Fangs and Pugsy looked at each other.

Mugsy and Glimpy looked at each other.

Scruno, Danny, Peewee, and Skinny looked at each other.

The reader looked at the screen, wondering why the author was wasting so much paragraph space with a pointless moment.

Finally, someone spoke. "Mugs… how come there's two of you, and two of Glimpy?" Scruno asked, blinking.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Mugsy replied, looking at Pugsy. "Who do you two think you are, imposing like me and one of my pals?"

"Excusify me, but I think you're the ones imposing as US," Pugsy sneered.

"Yeah, says who?" Glimpy questioned.

"Says him," Fangs answered, pointing at Pugsy.

"Who are you guys, anyhow?" Danny asked.

"I'm Pugsy, and he's Fangs." Pugsy answered. "Who are the rest of you guys?"

"I'm Mugsy, the guy you're impersonating," Mugsy answered firmly, then motioned to the others. "This is Danny, my left-hand man; Glimpy, the right hand man, and the one your friend is impersonating; Peewee, my yes-man; Skinny, my no-man; and Scruno, my black-out general."

"Say, you must be the guys Zeke was looking for," Skinny spoke up.

"Zeke's back? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Glimpy said.

"(Shut up, will ya?) Do you guys know Zeke?" Mugsy questioned, after elbowing Glimpy.

"Short kid, black hair, dresses in black, always has a snake with him?" Pugsy guessed. "Yeah, we've seen him. He's the one who brought us here, to find some other friends of ours who happen to be missing."

"Lets get back to Zeke, then, before anyone else goes missing," Danny suggested.

"Alright, lets go then." Mugsy agreed, and they walked off.

Fangs rubbed his chin as they walked, looking at Mugsy and Glimpy. "Say, Pugs, haven't we've seen those guys before?" he whispered.

"Maybe… but I don't disremember where," Pugsy answered.

"I do!" came a voice from behind.

"Whoa!" All the guys yelped, spinning around and seeing Alexia standing behind them, with the others.

"See? I told you they were this way," Ezekiel said, while Aaron only rolled his eyes.

"You both ran into each other in a chapter in the first Missing in Fiction story, remember? It was one of those random awkward moments WG likes to put in," Alexia added.

"Oh yeah, now I remember!" Fangs said. "We were walking down that creepy hallway in that temple, and we bumped into you two!"

"Come to think of it, I do recall hearing your names before," Mugsy agreed. "Yeah… back when Zeke first showed us that cartoony world he visits once in a while. We were in some creepy hall, and bumped into a couple cartoons,"

"Those were us," Pugsy told him.

"Gosh, I thought that was just a pointless cameo-appearance," Kassy spoke up.

"So… Zeke, who exactly are all your friends?" Glimpy asked.

"Oh, that's right, I didn't properly introduce you guys," Ezekiel said. "East Side Kids, this is Aaron, his sister Alexia, Brielle (Pugsy's wife), Kassy (Fangs' wife), Kite (Fangs' cousin), Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo. And, just to tell you ahead of time, we're looking for some characters named James Hunter (Aaron and Alexia's brother), Luna Southerland, Shaun Goof, and Liz Fangsworth (Fangs and Kassy's daughter)." He turned to the reader. "Personally, I just wanted to say all that just to help remind everyone who all is here."

"Of course," Brielle deadpanned.

"Alright, where do we start looking?" Mugsy asked.

Ezekiel smirked. "I THOUGHT you'd NEVER ask!" he exclaimed, then whipped out a cell-phone… Shaun's toon-powered cell-phone, to be exact.

"…Where did you get that?!" Kite demanded.

"Sirius had it on him when he and Jo came. I decided to borrow it to help trace our missing authors," he then pulled up some sort of GPS- tracking system on the phone. He then typed in the names of the missing authors. The screen loaded for a bit, until it pinpointed his location… in Burbank, CA (Shaun), Garfield, NJ (James), Benson, AZ (Liz), and Denver, CO (Luna). "Looks like whoever split apart our friends wanted to keep 'em pretty far apart,"

"Well, I guess we all know what this means," Aaron said.

"Road trip!" Alexia exclaimed.

Scooby gave a slight whimper, covering his face with his paw.

"But, we don't even have a vehicle," Shaggy pointed out.

"Leave that to us…" Ezekiel said, smirking.

~6~

_One Hour Later…_

Soon everyone was climbing into a green Jeep, ready to head for New Jersey. "Alright, everyone load up your bags and drain your bladders- this is a nonstop trip!" Mugsy announced.

"Where'd you get the ride?" Aaron asked.

"Borrowed it from a close friend… we'll have to get it back before he starts to miss it,"

"Great. We're traveling with a bunch of fugitives," Pugsy muttered.

"If you have a problem with it, you're welcome to walk, lunkhead."

"Watch it, wise-guy!"

"That's Mr. Wise Guy to you!"

"Can we please get driving before someone starts a cock-fight?" Ezekiel moaned. "I don't want to deal with so much conflict- we're only on chapter six!"

"Whatever,"

They began driving. "So, Ezekiel, how exactly did you and your friends get through MIF 1 alive?" Kassy asked.

The author grinned, leaning back. "Well, Kass, it's a long story… so long, it's going to take the whole next chapter to tell…"

~6~

**And so ends another chapter. Next chapter, a short flash-back… and a view of one of our missing author friends ;)**

**In the meantime, review. No flames please.**


	8. Chapter 7: Flashback and Flashforward

**And now for the flash-back.**

**~7~**

_15 Years Ago… during Missing in Fiction One…_

_Location: Reality Brooklyn._

_Time: 4:02 PM_

**Author's POV**

I walked down the street, my head hanging low. I had just come back from the cemetery, of which I visit every once in a while… I never knew why I went to it, considering being around the dead only reminded me that I couldn't die, which always gave me a pang of guilt- especially after what had happened last year.

I walked through the Bowery to our gang's hangout, an old cellar of a building filled with old furniture, which we arranged to deem it fit for our own home-away-from-home. I walked down the stairs and through the door, seeing the rest of the guys lounging around- Scruno was trying to nap on the couch, Peewee, Skinny, and Rocky (another member of ours) were looking through magazines, Glimpy and Mugs were sitting by an old television which showed a static-covered image of _Drake and Josh_ (Glimpy beating on the top of it, trying to get the picture to come in clear), and Danny was sitting by a radio listening to the Weekly Top 40, though the signal kept getting overlapped with the oldies-station.

"Hey, Zeke, we were wondering when you'd show up," Rocky told me. "Haven't seen you around all day,"

"I was just out for a walk, thinking." I replied with a shrug.

"What's on your mind this time?" Mugsy asked, then gave Glimpy an irritated look as he repeatedly slapped the TV, until our leader slammed his fist on the top of it, making the image come in clear.

I walked across the room, looking around, my hands in my pockets. "Just about how we never get many chances to get outta town, never see anything new,"

"What do you mean 'we'? You're always getting out of town, then coming back without telling us where you've been." Skinny scoffed.

"That's actually what I was thinking- I'm always going somewhere on my own, but never showed you guys where. I figured it's time I did,"

The gang all stared at me, Scruno even lifted his cap to give me an odd glance. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Yeah, where do you keep going that's so secretive?" Mugsy demanded.

"Well, it's sort of a place out of town- way out of town… out of this universe, even." I explained, then shook my head. "But, I doubt you'd guys would believe me, which is why I never told you about it before."

"Yeah? Show us where it is, and maybe we will," Glimpy sneered.

"Okay… but you gotta promise me you guys won't freak out,"

"Why, are you taking us to another planet or something?" Peewee questioned.

"Enough with the mystery already, just show us!" Mugsy snapped.

"Alright…" I then held my necklace- a small medallion with a cross on it- and concentrated. It began to glow, and suddenly a portal opened- where the TV used to be.

The guys, of coursed, freaked. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Danny screamed… and it was the first time I ever heard him swear like that.

"It's a portal, to that place I was telling you about," I motioned to the cartoon-city that stood on the other side of the portal. "It's called The Tooniverse- where cartoons and other fictional characters live."

"H-How did you learn to open that p-portal?" Scruno asked.

I looked at my necklace. I knew how to use it… but I couldn't remember how I learned. "I don't remember. …So you guys want to check it out, or are you just going to back out like a bunch of chickens?"

Mugsy, as I've learned, was always up to a challenge to prove he had guts. "Yeah, we'll check it out. Rocky, Peewee, Skinny, you guys stay here- in case the guys from Cherry Street come by to pick a fight." he said.

"I'll stay behind too," Scruno offered.

"Did I say you could? Didn't think so," With that, Mugsy pushed Scruno through the portal, then stepped in himself, followed by Glimpy and Danny.

"See you guys later," I told the others, then followed them through the portal, which closed once I reached the other side. "Well, here we-"

*BOOM!*

All at once, a giant portal opened in the sky, sucking up everyone within a 3-mile radius… us included!

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Glimpy cried, trying to grab onto something.

"I DON'T KNOW!" I replied, and tried to grab onto my friends, only managing to grab onto Danny, while the others were separated as we shot into the portal.

Then all went dark.

~7~

_I saw my friends, Tracker, WG, and FF2, all on top of a mountain. FF2 had a manic look in his eye, and held a wand that he shot toward the sky, and everything seemed to shift, as if reality were slowly shifting into the toon-world, and my sister stood before him, trying to talk to him, until she heard another voice and looked over… and then FF2 raised his hand, covered with a gauntlet, and zapped her dead…_

I gasped, opening my eyes, looking around. We were in some sort of dark room, Danny lying beside me. "D-Danny? Are you alright?" I asked, shaking him.

"Ow… no." Danny groaned, sitting up- then did a double-take at me. "Z-Zeke?! What happened to you?!"

I looked at myself, realizing I was in cartoon-form. "Oh, yeah. I'm a cartoon now. It happens whenever I come into this world,"

Danny looked at his hands. "Then… why aren't I a cartoon?"

"I guess it's because this is your first visit to the toon-world, you don't really become one unless you visit frequently or stay a while," I stood up, looking around. "Now, the question is, where'd we end up?"

"And where's Mugs, Glimpy, and Scruno?"

I began walking. "They've got to be around here somewhere. C'mon, we won't find anyone just sitting around,"

We then walked down the hall, when we heard a scream.

~7~

**Scruno's POV**

I was scared beyond belief. I had wakened up just moments ago, and already I was lost, scared, confused, and wishing I were back home. "Mugs? Glimpy? Danny? Zeke?" I called, slowly creeping along, tense about what may be in the shadows of this weird place. "Oh, please tell me this is just some nightmare I'm having…"

There was a growling sound behind me, and I turned around, seeing a strange creature with black scaly skin, no eyes, and sharp teeth. I screamed and began running away, and that thing followed me, gaining quick. It leaped at me, seconds from catching me in its jaws. "Oh, Jesus Christ, help!" I cried.

*Poof!*

Just like that, the thing turned to dust. "What in the world…?"

"Are you alright?" someone asked, and I spun around, seeing some cartoon boy with brown hair, some of it shaved with a rat-tail in the back, blue eyes, wearing a black jacket, cargo pants, and boots. He was standing on some sort of outcrop on the wall. "Those things have been coming after me all day, I just lost them through some secret passage,"

"Who are you?"

The boy jumped down, extending his hand. "I name is Jim Hawkins, what's yours?"

"Scruno,"

"Scruno!" A voice repeated, and suddenly some pink flying blob flew out of Jim's pocket… and turned into a mini version of me!

"Oh, yeah. This is Morph," Jim told me, holding his finger out for Morph to sit on.

I blinked. "What kind of world IS this?!"

Jim chuckled. "I figured you weren't from around here. This is the tooniverse… I take it you're from reality?"

I nodded. "My friends and I came here with another friend… and right now I need to find them and get out of here!"

"I'm looking for a couple friends of mine, too. Maybe we could stick together- this isn't the kind of place you'd want to walk around alone in,"

I already had that figured out as soon as I got here. "Thanks, man. Ain't no telling what might happen in this-"

*ka-chunk*

"YEOW!" Jim cried, and I spun around, seeing he had fallen through a trap-door, which shut after he fell through!

"Oh… shit!" I yelped. I heard more growling just then, and took off running.

~7~

**Glimpy's POV**

I woke up hours ago, and have been running ever since- being chased by Gremlins. "HEEEELLLLPPPP!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, running around one corner…

I turned around and raced the other way, pursued by these creatures with no eyes and sharp teeth, ducking into a room…

Running out, Jason Vorhees coming after me, and I continued to run until I reached another door, running in…

There was a shriek and I ran back out, seeing that I had accidentally ran into a women's restroom.

I reached another room, breathing hard. "Are you okay?" came a voice, and I looked to see… a g-g-g-GHOST!

"AUGH! GHOST!" I shouted, preparing to run another mile.

"Wait, it's alright! I won't hurt you!"

I paused, looking at him. "Y-Y-You won't?"

"No… actually, I'm willing to help. My name's Danny Phantom,"

"I'm Glimpy… what is this place?"

"That's what I'm still trying to figure out. I was in the middle of a fight when suddenly I was sucked into this place. One of my friends ended up here, too, and I'm looking for him."

"I'm looking for some of my friends, too,"

"Are they from the real-world too?"

I gave him a look. "How did you know we came from the real-world?"

Danny Phantom looked at me funny. "Well… I've never seen a cartoon that looked the way you do," he pointed at a mirror, and I saw that I wasn't a cartoon.

"Oh. Well, yeah, we came here for a visit- one of my friends knew how to open a portal to this place, but as soon as we stepped through, another portal opened and brought us to THIS creepy place. I've been running for hours now,"

Danny Phantom nodded. "I know how you feel. C'mon, I can help you look for your friends while I look for mine,"

"Thanks," I began following Danny Phantom as we walked down another hall…

Coming across more of those black, no-eyed creatures! Danny Phantom started shooting at them with green lasers that shot out of his palms(?) and I stepped back, pressing myself against the wall-

Which pushed in, causing me to fall through and down into the darkness, my scream echoing in the infinite blackness. "MOMMY!"

~7~

**Mugsy's POV**

When I woke up, I thought I had died. I was surrounded by darkness, and my pals were nowhere in sight. _As soon as I find Zeke… I'm gonna kill him. _I thought as I walked, looking everywhere for my friends. A trap door gave out beneath me and I fell through, landing in another dark room. _…if I don't get myself killed first…_

"Are you okay?" came a girl's voice.

When I looked over, I was sure I had died- because I was surrounded by beautiful girls. They were some of those Japanese-type cartoons, one of them barely dressed… having wolf-ears and a tail… and was standing over me. "Uh…. am I in heaven?" I asked, dumbfounded.

The girls looked at each other, the rest of them consisted of some sort of android in a long blue dress, a girl with a rabbit-ear type hairstyle wearing a short dress while holding some girly staff, and a girl with two pony-tails who also wore a mini-dress, having a pair of bat-wings. "No," they all replied.

I blinked. "Don't tell me I'm in hell!"

The girl with the staff chuckled. "No… trust me, I've been there before, and this isn't hell." she said.

"Okay… then where am I, exactly?"

"We don't know," the girl with wolf-ears replied. "We came here to visit some friends, and somehow ended up here by mistake."

"Two of our friends ended up missing, too." The android said to me. "We've been looking for them,"

I scratched my head. "A few of my friends are missing too. Maybe we could help each other out,"

"Okay!" The girls exclaimed.

"By the way, do you lovely ladies have any names I could calls ya?"

"I'm Liru," The wolf-eared girl replied.

"I'm Pachira," The bat-winged girl answered.

"I'm Yuma," The girl with the staff responded.

"I'm Aiko," The android told me.

"What is your name?" All four of them asked me.

"I'm Mugsy," I replied, standing up. I stumbled a bit, still sore from the fall.

"Are you okay? You look like you're in pain," Yuma said.

"Are you hurt?" Aiko asked.

"Just a few aches in the joints," I grunted, rubbing my back.

"Maybe we could give you a massage," Liru suggested.

"Yes! A massage will help!" Pachira exclaimed.

"You shouldn't walk around if you're sore," Aiko agreed.

"Lie down, we'll give you a massage!" Yuma urged me.

I looked at the girls, smiling a bit. Maybe I wouldn't kill Zeke too bad for bringing me here. "Alright, ladies, do with me what you wish," I said, rubbing my hands together and lying down.

*THUD!*

Something fell on me just then. "Oof! What the…?!"

"Mugs? MUGS! Oh, man, am I glad to see you!" Glimpy exclaimed, hugging me.

"Get off me, you yut. I was about to get a massage!"

"From who?"

"From those-"

I looked, seeing that the girls were gone, a large trap door opened where they once stood, closing seconds later.

Dammit!

~7~

**Danny's POV**

Zeke and I followed the sound of the scream, coming across Scruno, who ran right past us. "Scruno! Wait up!" I called, and we caught up to him. "What's going on?"

"Look behind you!" Scruno answered.

We looked over, seeing these freaky creatures with no eyes coming after us! "AUGH!" Zeke and I screamed, and we ran with Scruno, coming across a dead-end. We looked at the creatures, who were starting to close in. Zeke stood in front of us, and a creature approached him… but whipped back, hissing, and the rest of them began to back off.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"I don't know…" Zeke answered. "I'm too busy praying to God…"

The creatures screeched just then. Scruno had his hands folded in prayer. "Oh, please get us out of here, Lord! Take us home, get us out of here, I want to go home! Help us get out of here alive!" he was begging.

I studied the creatures. They screeched at God's name, and seemed to be cringing as Scruno kept praying. I then got an idea. "Zeke, let me see your necklace," I said.

"What for?" Zeke asked, handing me his necklace.

I held it in front of me, walking toward the creatures- just as I thought, they began backing away. "That's it- they can't handle anything holy!" I approached them. "Back! Get back! Get out of here!" I swung the necklace, and when it contacted one of them, it turned to dust. I swung it at the others, making them disperse.

"Alright, Dan!" Scruno exclaimed, patting me on the back. "You showed them!"

"Now we just gotta find Mugs and Glimpy and get out of here," Zeke said as I handed his necklace back to him, and we ran down the hall.

We stopped then, hearing someone coming, and ducked into a room… watching as a pair of cartoons walked by, one of them being a baby wearing a yellow shirt and red overalls, and a kid with yellow stuck-up hair, wearing a red and black-striped shirt and black pants. "That's the last time I let YOU use the flame-thrower," the baby sneered, sounding way too grown up. "Darkarai won't be happy when I tell her that YOU let those heroes live,"

"ME?! You were the one who had us lose them, all because you needed a diaper change!" The boy snapped. "If we don't do something soon, we'll be mince-meat!"

"Like what? Kill the first person who comes in sight and tell the other villains they were an ally to those meddling kids?"

The boy rubbed his chin. "No… but, what if we gained more allies on OUR side? Recruited more villains- the baddest of the bad. If we called in enough, Darkarai will forget our fluke- maybe even make me a general!"

"YOU?! If anyone should be general, it should be ME!"

"Are you kidding me?! You're not even potty-trained!"

"No, but I have more weapons, and aren't afraid of monsters under the bed!"

"I have a more dangerous mind… and I'm not in diapers!"

They kept arguing, walking out of site. "Who were they?!" Scruno whispered as we snuck off.

"Calvin and Stewie- one bad duo." Zeke answered. "We gotta hurry and get out of here,"

"Agreed," I said, and we raced down the hall.

~7~

**3****rd**** Person POV**

Glimpy and Mugsy walked down the hall, having just come back from a run in with two more cartoons. "…Don't you think we should have asked them for help, Mugs?" Glimpy asked, looking back.

"Nah, we don't need help from some half-pint jerk and a tall lanky doofus," Mugsy scoffed.

Glimpy scratched his head. "They sort of reminded me of someone, though…"

"Just keep walking. The sooner we find the others, the sooner we can get back home, and the sooner I can pummel Zeke for bringing us to this shell-hole. …How long as it been since we've been here?"

Glimpy looked at his digital watch, seeing the date on it. "Almost three days!"

"Three days?! Geez, time sure flies in this place… unless we've been unconscious most of the time,"

"I sure hope the others are okay…"

"I sure wish there was more light in here," They walked deeper, the hall growing darker and darker. "I can't see anything in front of me! Doesn't that watch of yours light up?"

"It stopped lighting up when I fell in some sort of indoor pond,"

"Indoor pond? …Never mind."

There was the sound of footsteps just then. "I think someone's coming, Mugs," Glimpy whispered.

"I hear that. Be quiet, and stay close." He felt Glimpy cling on to him. "Not THAT close, numbskull,"

"Sorry."

Down the same hall, Danny, Scruno, and Ezekiel were walking. "It's getting really dark in here… anyone got a light?" Ezekiel asked, as they walked so deep into the darkness that only the whites of their eyes could be seen.

"I think I got a lighter here, somewhere," Danny answered, searching his pockets.

"Hey, someone's coming," Scruno whispered, hearing footsteps.

"Everyone keep quiet- it might be another villain," Ezekiel said. "I'll tackle 'em, and then Danny, you light up the place so we can get a good look at their faces,"

"Okay," Danny agreed.

"On three, we tackle them," Mugsy was telling Glimpy.

"Alright," Glimpy whispered as he and Mugsy inched closer.

"One…" Ezekiel counted quietly.

"Two…" Mugsy whispered.

"THREE!" Both of them shouted, then attacked each other.

*Bam! Whap! Scuffle! Bonk! Punch!*

Danny lit his lighter, giving the hall a dim glow but enough light to see who was in the dark… and his jaw dropped.

Zeke had Mugsy by the collar, while Mugsy had him by the shoulder, both of them preparing to punch the other. "Zeke! Geez, what are you doing, tackling me?!" Mugsy snapped.

"Me?! You started it and… what happened to you?" Ezekiel answered, staring at him wide-eyed.

"What do you mean?"

"Mugs… you're a cartoon!" He looked at the others. "You've ALL become cartoons!"

"Yow!" Scruno gasped, looking at his hands, feeling his face. "How did that happen?!"

"I guess, it's because we've been here a while, right?" Danny asked Ezekiel.

"That must be it," Ezekiel answered. "We must have been here longer than we thought,"

"Three days, actually," Mugsy answered, looking at himself. "Do crazy things like this always happen?"

"Meh, crazier things have happened in the tooniverse. Don't worry about it, though."

"Easy for you to say. If my mom sees me like this, she's going to have a heart-attack!" Glimpy sneered. "And how am I going to get a date like this? What if I get married- what will my kids look like?!"

"Calm down, Glimpy! Once we get back to reality, we'll change back,"

"And I suggest you take us back there NOW. I've had enough of this place," Mugsy snapped.

"Alright, alright, just let me…"

The place began to shake just then, the walls starting to cave in. "Zeke! You'd better open a portal out of this place quick!" Scruno yelped.

"I'm trying!" Ezekiel held his necklace, but the chain snapped and it slipped out of his grip, bouncing down the quaking hall. "Shit!"

"Everyone, run!" Danny screamed.

They all ran down the hall, seeing a wall cave in, seeing the sky outside. "This way!" Mugsy said and they ran toward the opening. He stopped at the edge, nearly toppling if the others hadn't grabbed him, and they looked down, seeing that the sky was red and there was lava down below. "HOLY SHIT!"

Ezekiel saw his necklace, watching it topple over the edge and made a grab for it, only to miss. It landed on a small outcrop. "I gotta get my necklace! It's the only thing that can take us home!" he said, and began climbing down.

"ZEKE! Are you NUTS?!" Danny screamed.

"Yes!"

The shaking stopped and Ezekiel climbed closer to the necklace. He couldn't climb any further, with no other outcrops to grab onto, the necklace just a few inches away from him. He reached for it, straining to grab it. "C'mon… c'mon…" he urged, the tip of his finger brushing against the medallion.

The outcrop under his foot crumbled just then and he slipped, gripping onto the outcrop he hung onto. "Ezekiel!" Danny cried.

Ezekiel struggled, and kept reaching for the necklace. In a desperate attempt, he kicked off one of his shoes, swinging his bare foot up onto the outcrop with the necklace, grabbing the chain with his toes. "I got it!" he called, swinging his foot back then bending his leg up, reaching down with one hand and grabbing the necklace, holding it up for the others to see.

In an unexplainable event, a snake popped out of a hole and grabbed onto Ezekiel, twisting around his arm. "Holy- Zeke, hang on!" Mugsy cried, reaching over the edge. "Guys, hang onto my legs! Lower me down toward him!"

The others did as they were told, helping Mugsy reach for Ezekiel. The outcrop the author held onto crumbled and he would have fallen, if not for the snake hanging on to him, stronger than it appeared. Mugsy grabbed onto his hand and pulled him up, the snake slithering down and twisting around Ezekiel's waist. "Hurry, Mugs, there's a snake on me!"

"I can see that! Hold on!"

"Pull, guys, pull!" Danny grunted as they held onto Mugsy's legs.

"That's what we're doing!" Scruno snapped.

They hauled Mugsy, Ezekiel, and the snake onto the edge, breathing with relief. The sky then turned into a deep blue, the dawn approaching, and the lava hardened to stone. "What… was THAT all about?" Mugsy panted.

"Frankly… I don't know," Ezekiel answered, then looked up at a mountain top not too far away, seeing angels floating upward to the sky, and watched as a group of familiar cartoons climbed onto a dragon's back and flew off, noticing three of them were his author-friends. "Whatever it was, though, I think it's all over."

The snake slithered off his waist, looking at him curiously. "That thing isn't p-poisonous, is it?" Glimpy asked.

"I don't know… I think it might be friendly, though." Ezekiel observed the snake. "It saved me from a fall, at least… and I think I've seen it somewhere before," he held out his hand, and the snake slithered up his arm, relaxing around his shoulders. "It must be a pet or something, since it's so tame,"

"You're not thinking of keeping it, are ya?" Mugsy asked.

Ezekiel shrugged. "I might as well. It likes me," he rubbed the snake under the chin. "I think I'll call him… Ryoji,"

"Can we go home now?" Scruno begged.

Ezekiel held up his necklace, making a portal back to reality open. "Oh, and guys, one thing… don't tell anyone else about the toon-world. They might either see you as crazy, or be an enemy looking to destroy it,"

"I know I'm keeping my mouth shut,"

"Same here. I want to forget this place," Mugsy answered, and glared at Ezekiel. "Remind me never to go on a trip with you again,"

They stepped through the portal, returning home.

~7~

_Present…_

"…And that's how it all went down," Ezekiel finished saying. They were just a few miles from Garfield, NJ, having been driving all night.

"And it's also the reason why I never want to see another cartoon as long as I live," Mugsy sneered. "Makes me wonder why I'm helping you out with this sort of saturation now, anyway."

"Oh come on, you're just helping us look for some friends." Alexia scoffed. "It won't be too much trouble,"

Ezekiel froze just then…

_He saw a boy about six feet tall, his eyes reflecting red, and black hair, wearing a blue shirt, jeans, and blue sneakers, and holding a gun toward someone. In front of him stood a boy a bit taller, with short black hair, wearing a black jacket, black jeans, and black boots, with brown eyes and glasses, having a gun-blade aimed at him…_

"Oh… shit!" he gasped.

"What now?" Kasandra asked.

"I hate to say it… but I think we're going to have trouble,"

~7~

**A/N: Is it getting too intense for you?**

**Well, please review, and be nice or I will have Ryoji attack you… and to answer the question, yes, he IS poisonous.**


	9. Chapter 8: The Villainess Bitch Is Shown

**And now to see what the OC and Nobodies are up to. And thanks again to Scoobycool9 and Wherever Girl for the names!**

* * *

_When we last left Sam/Storm, Kiff/Kiffang, Nessie, Norm/Stud, Eric/Fangpuss, Erica/Claw, Hardy, Drew, Chance, Matthew/Nightclaw, Cassie/Shadowslasher, Chris/Chase… uh… Gin, Edwin, Lamone, and, um, oh yeah, Jo and Sirius, they were tracking down the Nobodies, when some mysterious figure ran by and slashed their picture of the moon and took chase after him, only to come across two of the missing Nobodies…_

The multiple OC and three Nobodies were sitting around a campfire in a field, after their encounter, deciding it was time for questions to be answered. "Before we start, would you be willing to tell us who you are?" Chase asked.

"Gladly. My name is Riffraff," Puggsy/Lamone's Nobody answered first.

"I'm Drista," Laura/Brielle's Nobody answered. "You've already met our son, Fikk. Now could you tell us who you are, and why your friend attacked my kid?"

The OC's introduced themselves. "We came here looking for you," Lamone said, turning to Riffraff. "You happen to be the Nobody of me and my brother… though…"

"Though… what?" Riffraff asked.

"I'm confused on why you have wolf-ears and a tail."

"Ah. Well, I'm quarter werewolf. You or your brother must have been part werewolf at the time,"

"That was me!" Hardy exclaimed, then gasped. "Does this mean Riffraff is also MY Nobody?"

"Don't get your hopes up, you twit." Lamone scoffed.

"And whom might I be part of?" Drista asked.

"My mom, and my uncle Biff's little sister." Kiffang answered. "At least, that's what the narration mentioned,"

"Are you sure about that?" Eric asked, scratching his head.

"What makes you think I'm not sure?"

"Well, no offense to your mom or half-aunt, but their Nobody looks more, ah, _developed_ than them."

Everyone observed Drista, seeing that, unlike what they expected, she had more of an hour-glass shape, was at least 5'3", fair skin, and wow-wowee-wow-wow… "Knock off the staring or I'll carve my initials somewhere you don't want them!" Drista sneered, mostly at the narrator.

"So why are you searching for us?" Fikk asked.

"We think it might have something to do with our missing friends," Chase said.

"And a fractured future." Sirius added.

"Details, please?" Riffraff asked.

"A child from the future was brought to the past, kidnapped by a psychotic woman, who may be trying to sabotage our friends and family," Edwin answered, and told them everything that the author still remembered.

Riffraff rubbed his chin, Drista seemed to be staring intently into the fire, and Fikk cringed. "…and in order to save our future, we have to stop this woman, get my parents and their friends back, and set time back in order," Jo finished.

"Sounds like the timeline was already set out-of-wack," Drista said. "I mean, if this 'Finneas' guy had taken over by the time Liz was, what, 13… wouldn't that mean that in 8 years she wouldn't have a reason to come back in time if he's already been defeated?"

"Yeah… the author is still trying to comprehend that himself. Just roll with it," Sam replied.

"Do you have any contact with the other Nobodies we're looking for?" Chance asked.

"You mean Zane and Xyro?" Fikk asked.

"Zane?" Edwin questioned, then said quietly. "Why do I get the feeling that's FF2's Nobody?"

"Who would name themselves Zero?" Nessie wondered.

"X-Y-R-O is how she spells it." Fikk explained. "Just thought I'd clear that up, just so I wouldn't confuse anyone."

"Where are they?" Gin asked.

"That's what we were wondering," Riffraff replied. "They took off a week ago, but haven't come home yet."

"That's what we were doing out here, we're on a search for them, and this was usually where they'd hang out," Fikk added.

"Riffraff and I didn't see any sign of them, only saw some weirdo running around cackling… and next thing we saw was Fikk running for his life from you guys," Drista answered.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Nightclaw said, rubbing his neck. "Some creep came racing by, and apparently didn't want some of us to transform into werewolves, so we took chase. I guess he or she somehow eluded us and we mistook Fikk for him… or her."

"Do you think whoever's responsible for your missing friends could also be the reason behind our friends' disappearance?" Drista asked.

"We could team up and find out," Norm suggested.

"Couldn't hurt too much," Riffraff replied with a shrug.

"Alright, where should we start first?" Erica asked.

"How about we start with tracking down whoever tried to delay us?" Drew suggested. "Whoever they may be could still be in this field."

"Lets move out, then," Lamone said. "We'll split up to cover more ground,"

"Right, we'll go in five's," Drista agreed, and they all split up in different groups… which shall be mentioned later because I'm getting really sick of having to re-list everyone.

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

Somewhere in a secret place so secret that if I mentioned it now I'd be shot on sight, our villain awaited.

*slap!*

Ow! I mean, _villainess_. (…stupid, political correctness…)

"Well?" our villainess whispered to seven mysterious figures. "What is your report?"

"You tell her," the first figure said.

"Nuh-uh, I told her about the popcorn-maker. YOU tell her," the second figure replied, turning to the third.

"No way. I'm still recovering from when she found out about the DVD player," the third figure scoffed, then turned to the fourth. "YOU tell her,"

"I'm always the one telling her the bad news!" The fourth whined.

"WOULD YOU JUST TELL ME ALREADY?!" The villainess bellowed.

The fifth figure sighed, then stepped up. "We've got a problem. Apparently, there's still another author out there helping those other three and is in the real-world with their counterparts and OC trying to find them," they said.

"And the other OC are looking for those Nobodies you sent us to capture," the sixth said.

"But the good news is, we've captured all those meddlers!" The seventh said, then cringed. "Except… the four who joined that author in reality."

The villainess scoffed, filing her nails. "Who's this author? Tracker78? Just track down her missing five-year-old self and kill her, problem solved."

The figures exchanged looks. "Actually, she's one of the missing ones." the first one replied. "The author's name is Anti-Twilight Forever,"

The villainess cut herself, her eyes widening. "WHAT?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO BEFORE?!" she screamed.

"Oh c'mon, boss. The kid's only written, what, 5 stories so far, and everyone barely notices him. He's nobody special," The second figure said… then was gripped by the throat.

"The rest of the authors were the same way, and look how they turned out! If we don't get rid of ATF, our take-over is blown! Track him down and bring him to me- we can't have him interfere!"

"Sheesh, why is he so important? I mean, he hardly had a place in the Reality Twisted stories, he was never mentioned in the Missing in Fiction saga… what's the big deal about him?" The third asked.

"Because, you fools, he has the gift! Now do as I say and go capture him!" she turned to figures 5, 6, and 7. "Not you though! I need you three to take care of a task,"

"What would that be?" the seventh figure asked.

"Something to keep those Nobodies busy," she gave them a key. "Unleash… The Creeper."

* * *

**Ooh, things are spicing up. What is our villainess talking about? Will the Nobodies and OC find the other Nobodies? Have I given myself too much credit in this plot? We shall find out… eventually.**


	10. Chapter 9: Trying to Stay Focused

**Well, the blizzard has struck and it sounds like we're in for another 20 inches… yikes.**

**So I hope this chapter warms you up… and just to give you a heads up, it involves romance- for those of you who can't stand that sissy-stuff, you may skip it.**

**Note: ****Underlined ****sentences will be monologue over different scenes.**

~9~

Nessie, Kiffang, Eric, Erica, Lily, Norm, Jo, Sirius, and Fikk had split up together (make sense out of that, if you can) and were exploring the east side of the field. "Are we done yet?" Lily moaned, slowing down her pace, hunching forward. "We've been walking all over the tooniverse for the past six chapters! My feet hurt, I'm tired, I think I might collapse-"

"Look at the moon!" Nessie snapped.

Lilly did so, as well as Eric and Erica, and they transformed into their werewolf halves, Blackrose, Fangpuss, and Claw. "Woo! About time I got in this story!" Blackrose exclaimed, then began to sprint ahead. "C'mon, you guys! Get your rears in gear, we've got Nobodies to find!"

"Hey! Wait up!" Kiffang called, racing after her.

"Looks like we're all splitting up again," Norm said, then put his arm around Nessie. "How about the rest of you go after the two werewolves, while Nessie and I go- OOF!"

Nessie had elbowed him in the ribs. "Nice try, moron." she sneered.

"Norm, you can come with us," Jo suggested.

"yeah… sure…" Norm wheezed, getting his wind back, and walked with Jo and Sirius.

"Lets go make sure our cousins don't get into trouble," Claw said to Fangpuss.

"Yeah, last time we let them out of our sight, they set fire to a pool," Fangpuss replied, and turned to the reader. "Don't ask how it happened, because we're still trying to figure it out."

Nessie looked at Fikk. "I… guess it's you and me then." he said, awkwardly. "I know a place we could search, just uphill,"

Nessie sighed, rolling her eyes. "Whatever." she muttered. _Better than going with Norm, at least. _she thought.

~9~

Meanwhile, Lamone, Riffraff, Drista, Chase, Sam, and… um… Edwin were in the west side of the field, looking for any signs of the mysterious figure. "Alright, I can't handle it anymore!" Edwin shouted, then floated over to Riffraff and Drista. "How did you guys have a kid?! I gotta know!"

"ED!" The others shouted, obviously not wanting to know the answer.

"Well, when two people fall in love-" Drista began to joke.

"Stop right there." Lamone said quickly.

"What I mean is, how DID you guys fall in love?" Edwin clarified. "Judging from the people you materialized from, there's almost zero chance you could find a spark WITHOUT the possibility of trying to kill each other first!"

Riffraff chuckled. "Believe me, we didn't really zing right away," he replied.

"Yeah. Riffraff was the last of our little group to join, and when we were in a room together, Xyro and Zane had to make sure we didn't try to kill each other," Drista answered. "We'd argue, we'd fight, we'd brawl… and mostly we were just uncomfortable around each other,"

"Mostly because she always had a short temper and violent streak,"

"… while HE had an intense glare and even shorter temper,"

"Not to mention SHE always got into trouble- no matter HOW many times she claimed she could handle herself,"

Drista glared at Riffraff. "Excuse me?_ I_ always got into trouble? How about that time I had to save your ass from getting eaten by werewolves, or pull that stake out of your heart before you slipped off to the afterlife?"

Riffraff "Well, which one of us had to save the other from drowning AND from being caught in a burning building?"

"Which one of us has a fear of Twinkies?"

Edwin snickered, until Lamone punched him. "So, let me guess- it was the old 'boy and girl hate each other but by the end fall in love' story, correct?" the stoic vampire guessed.

"Eh, pretty much." Riffraff said with a shrug. "Only ours took a whole year to come around," he put his arm around Drista. "I'll never forget the moment it happened…"

Drista smiled. "Neither will I," she said.

~9~

Fikk and Nessie reached the top of the hill. "Here we are," Fikk said. "You can see everything from up here,"

Nessie looked around. The scenery was beautiful- a clear pond rested at the base of the hill, with a small creak leading to it with a waterfall, batches of flowers growing at the corners, a tall weeping willow arching over the edge with a rope tied to one of its branches, and fireflies blinking here and there. "Wow…" she whispered.

"We were camping out, and Xyro and Zane had shown us this amazing spot, not too far off," Drista was explaining to the others. "It was the most beautiful place we had ever seen,"

[Now Playing: "Strange Love" by Karen O]

"Would you… like to walk down and look around?" Fikk asked.

"Sure," Nessie replied, walking with him.

"Things started off the usual way- Zane and Xyro would be goofing around, while Drista and I would try to keep our distance," Riffraff said. 

Fikk was walking too close to Nessie, who gave him a look and quickened her pace, going around the tree. Fikk, distracted by a couple fireflies that flew close to his face, ended up walking around the other side, bumping into her.

"Except, no matter where we went, we kept bumping into each other,"

Nessie sneered at Fikk, walking on.

"That's when he started to joke around," Drista remarked. "While I was just trying to chill, he was taking every opportunity to show off,"

"Hey, watch this," Fikk said, grabbing onto the rope and climbing up the tree. He then swung downward. "Woo-hoooo!" and with a *splash*, made a perfect five feet into the pond.

"I, on the other hand, didn't want to take part in his games,"

"We're on an investigation, dimwit. This is no time to play around," Nessie scoffed.

"…that is, not without the right provocation," Riffraff chimed.

"Yeah… but I suppose when you're not that athletic, walking around is all you're good at," Fikk teased.

Nessie glared at him. "Oh yeah?" she grabbed onto the rope. "I'll show you… watch THIS!" She swung down and, reaching out, made it to the middle of the pond, swimming under.

"I figured, if I chose the right words, she'd give in,"

Fikk dove under, swimming by her, giving her a smirk. She sneered at him, shoving him, then resurfaced, swimming back to the shore, deciding to get back to the matter at hand.

"Yeah, but I knew when to be mature and ignore you, too." Drista scoffed.

"Which, didn't exactly come easy for you that day, did it?" Riffraff replied.

"Watch out!" Fikk exclaimed, swinging on the rope again, right by Nessie, startling her enough back into the water.

"Why you…!" Nessie snarled, spreading her wings and flying after him.

"Yes… and that's when I decided to try to kill you,"

Fikk had swung back up into the tree, Nessie following him as he leaped from branch to branch, going higher and higher.

"That is, IF you could catch me…"

"Gotcha!" Nessie exclaimed, pushing through some leaves on the last branch he was on… only to see he wasn't there. She stepped out, wondering where he was.

"Hello!" Fikk exclaimed, flying up right behind her, scaring her off the branch. She flew up, seeing that he, too, had bat-wings (which made sense- I mean, his dad IS half-vampire) and also had wolf-ears (which also makes sense). He then tapped her. "You're it!" Laughing, he shot off.

"You little…!" Nessie snarled, flying after him. Didn't he know how serious their situation was? Why was he playing games?

Fikk chuckled, then dove, flying beneath the waterfall, Nessie following him, soaring higher and higher into the air until they were in the clouds. He dove in one, hiding from Nessie, who dove into it, but couldn't find him. She popped up, looking left, then ducked down; and he popped up, looking right, then ducked back down. Nessie popped up, then felt Fikk tap her shoulder and spun around, after he went back into hiding. She glared, then hovered behind the cloud. Fikk poked his head out, noticing Nessie wasn't there, and air-stepped out.

"I managed to catch you that day…" Drista scoffed.

"GOTCHA!" Nessie shouted, air-tackling Fikk and they spiraled downward… noticing he was laughing!

"Yeah… only because I wanted you to," Riffraff told her.

Nessie arched an eyebrow, and Fikk spread his wings, making them turn to the side, the tips of their wings touching the water, and swirled as they turned. Nessie loosened her grip, and Fikk hooked his arm with hers, and they flew beneath the waterfall and back into the air. He smiled at her, and she smiled back a little, and began to chuckle- it was pretty fun. They then touched down at the top of the waterfall to catch their breaths.

"Too bad I didn't realize that until the last minute," Drista replied.

Fikk then lied back in the grass, looking up at the stars. Nessie sat down beside him, sharing his gaze.

"Then again, I didn't mind. Once we were alone, it was as if nothing else in the world mattered,"

"When we weren't arguing or picking fights, it turns out we actually enjoyed each other's company." Riffraff added. "The emotions we felt seemed sudden for us, but… we didn't really care."

Fikk smiled at Nessie, holding her hand. "You know… I never met another quarter-werewolf, quarter-vampire before," he told her. "You're pretty cool,"

"You too," Nessie replied, and noticed how close she was to him and cleared her throat. "C-C'mon, we'd better check with the others, make sure they're alright,"

Fikk nodded. "Yeah… lets go," he replied, wishing that- if the situation wasn't so serious- the moment could last longer.

"But I had a feeling we'd ease into it," Riffraff said. "Because that night was only the start,"

[End song]

~9~

"I can hear Brielle vomiting from here," Sam commented once Riffraff finished.

"…and I can sense Kiff is going to kill the author very soon," Edwin added.

"He won't be the first one," Lamone muttered.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, lets get back to searching," Drista scoffed. "Unless you guys want to know what happened after romance sparked between us-"

"Moving on!" Chase interrupted, shoving everyone forward.

~9~

Chance, Nightclaw, Gin, Hardy, Drew, and Shadowslasher were searching the north side of the field. Why was no one searching the south, you may ask? …They just came from that direction. "No sign of that nut-job, anywhere," Nightclaw said.

"Yeah, and no sign of that creepo who tried to keep us werewolves at bay," Hardy added.

"Uh, Hardcore? _That's who we're searching for!"_ Shadowslasher snapped.

"Oh… I thought we were searchifying for one of the missing Nobodies."

"Hey, watch it! One of those Nobodies happen to be part of my human-half and her counterpart!" Drew scolded.

Hardy cringed. "Ooh, ooh, sorry babe. I didn't mean it, (grr) didn't mean it."

"Just stay focused, dipstick. We've got two universes at stake here," Shadowslasher sneered.

"Hey, lighten up on our brother-in-law. It's not his fault we've got so many people to track down," Nightclaw told her.

"Well considering the circumstances, he ought to keep track of who we're tracking… and he's not 'my' brother-in-law,"

"He is, considering you and Matt are married," Chance said, holding up his camera. "Our photos from our Vegas trip is enough to prove it,"

Nightclaw gave Chance a glare. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO DELETE THOSE PHOTOS, YOU RETARD!" he shouted, reaching for the camera, only to be held back by Chance.

"I deleted most of them… but some of them were just too hard to get rid of- like this one of you getting strangled by that boa we kidnapped,"

"Give me that!" Nightclaw then tackled Chance, who wrestled to keep the camera away from him.

"If we didn't have a kid to support, I'd file for divorce," Shadowslasher muttered, then turned to the reader. "Nightslasher, if you're reading this, you'd better get a good college degree for all I have to put through!"

"Guys, we've got an investigation to get to, remember?" Gin snapped. "Focus!"

Nightclaw had pinned Chance to the ground, successfully retrieving the camera and deleting the photos on it. "Sure thing, Ginny." the werewolf said, smiling victoriously as he stood up, tossing the empty camera back to Chance.

"Stupid nitwolf," Chance sneered. "Now I know what my brother has to go through…"

There was a growl, and something in the tall grass grabbed Chance by the throat, strangling him. "Chance!" Drew gasped.

"Hang on, bro! I'll help ya!" Hardy shouted, then took out his key-blade, swinging it at whatever had a grip on Chance, scaring it. They watched it take off, seeing it was wearing a long trench-coat and hat… and had long leathery wings, which it used to take off into the air.

"What WAS that thing?!" Gin stammered.

"Our second sign of trouble," Shadowslasher replied. "C'mon, we've got to get back to the others!"

~9~

**Hello, suspense, we were hoping you'd stick around.**

**Well, it seems like there's a sudden-romance blooming, we've got a creature on the loose, meaning our heroes here are in for one heck of a night in the next chapter.**

**Please review. No flames, though. …Flames are bad.**


	11. Chapter 10: Jeepers, It's The Creeper!

**And now for some suspense.**

**Warning: May contain bloody images, gory violence, repetitive foul language, and other content not suitable for kids under 18. **

…

**Get back here, Fangs…**

~10~

Lamone and Riffraff both stopped abruptly, the Nobody's ear twitching while the vampire's pupils dilated a bit. "What is it?" Samantha asked.

"Something is coming…" Riffraff began.

"This way." Lamone finished, throwing a knife the moment he did, and impaled something in the tall grass. It shot up into the air, with leathery wings, and he saw his knife had stuck in its shoulder. "Oh… _fuck_."

"Alright… what IS that thing?!" Samantha demanded, knowing Lamone never swore unless a situation was futile.

"It's called The Creeper," Edwin replied. "It's a demon that hunts for 23 three days every 23 years, choosing victims so it can devour certain parts of their bodies."

"And if it chooses you… you're dead," Chase answered, drawing his gun and shooting fire-bullets at the creature as it came overhead. It screeched and swerved downward, diving back into the grass and running.

"Apparently, it hasn't chosen any of us," Drista pointed out.

"That doesn't mean it could be after the others." Riffraff said. "Edwin, Sam, both of you go make sure Gin, Hardy, Drew, Chance, Nightclaw, and Shadowslasher are alright. We'll go after the kids,"

"Oh, I hope they're alright…" Samantha said. Taking precaution, she looked up at the moon and turned into Storm, and she and Edwin took off to go check on the others.

"C'mon, lets stop that creep before he takes a bite out of my kid!" Drista ordered, pulling out a large katana and taking off with the others.

~10~

Nessie paused, her ear twitching. "Hold it… something's following us," she whispered to the others, just as a rustling sound came from the bushes.

"Don't worry, babe, I've got this," Norm told her confidently, walking over to the bushes, Sirius at his side. They looked over, seeing something dark…

A couple crows squawked and shot out of the bushes, flying up into the sky. "Ah, it was just a couple of birds," Sirius scoffed. "Nothing-"

"AUGH!" Jo cried as a clawed hand grabbed her shoulder, yanking her into the tall grass. She took out a dagger and sliced the hand, freeing herself, but the creature lunged out and tackled her.

*ZAP!*

"Get away from my sister!" Kiff growled after blasting the Creeper via laser-fist. It snarled and took off into the air.

"C'mon, lets get it!" Fikk said, spreading his wings, as well as Nessie, and they shot off into the air with Kiff.

The Creeper growled, launching itself at Nessie first, who slammed her fist into its face. It used its talons to grab onto her waist, digging its claws into her skin and drawing blood, and threw her at Kiff. He caught her, then blasted at the creature again, this time grazing its shoulder, while Fikk attacked from behind and clawed at its neck. It reached behind and grabbed him by the air, and head-butted him, knocking him out, and held him like a shield.

"What now, Wherever Boy?" Nessie asked, but noticed Kiff was only glaring at the creature. "Hey! Wherever Boy! I'm talking to you!"

"Shush!" Kiff hissed, concentrating on the creature.

_What is it that you want? _Kiff was thinking.

_Eyes for eyes… teeth for teeth… skin for skin… _came a mental response with a demonic voice. _I want his heart… I want his arms… I want her hair… I want her skin… I want his blood… and I want your mind…_

_The fuck I'm going to let you have any of that! _Kiff then blasted the creature in its left wing, making a hole in it and altering its balance.

"Nessie, grab Fikk!" he ordered and let go of Nessie and shot toward the creature, punching it in its face and making it drop Fikk.

Nessie dove and caught Fikk, but blood was still seeping out her sides, the pain causing her to swerve downward.

Norm had changed into his kretin-half, Stud, and caught them both. "Might want to sit this one out," he told her.

Sirius had his wand out while Jo had a gun, both of them blasting/shooting at the creature… occasionally nearly hitting Kiff. "Whoa! HEY! WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" Kiff shouted down at them.

"Sorry!" Sirius called, trying to aim better.

Fangpuss dug into his hat, pulling out a crossbow. "Where did you get that?!" Claw demanded.

"Remember when Mom and Dad were part of that werewolf-hunting group with the foreign-sounding name that the author forgot about?" Fangpuss asked. "Well, lets just say, they brought home some of their equipment… Tattle, and you'll be my next target."

"You don't even know how to shoot that thing!" Claw grabbed the crossbow, trying to take it from her brother, but he kept tugging it back.

"I do too-"

*twing!*

He accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting an arrow upward. "Whoops…"

And it didn't help that the arrow hit Kiff in the side, near the ribs actually, just when he had the creature in a headlock. "GAH! DAMN FUCK- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS…!" he screamed in pain.

The Creeper squirmed out of his grasp, then bit him in the throat, chewing at his neck.

*ZAP!*

Another blast caught it in the back of its head, and everyone looked to see Blackrose in a tree, her fists glowing pink. "Let go of my cousin, asshole!" the she-wolf growled, and blasted the creature again, making it release Kiff, who fell to the ground.

The creature screeched and dove downward toward Kiff, biting his shoulder and dragging him through the tall grass. "KIFF!" The others screamed, and ran after it.

Kiff groaned in pain, conscious enough to realize his position, and weakly raised his fist. The creature stopped then pinned both of his arms to the ground, its face above his, and it opened its mouth, preparing to feast…

In a screech of pain, it was pried off, and Lamone slammed its head on a rock, ripping off its injured wing as he did, and viciously clawed at its abdomen. The creature growled and lunged, scratching Lamone's face, cutting his eye, blinding the vampire. It prepared to attack, until Chase tackled it, stabbing his claws into its chest to rip out its heart… only to find it didn't have one. The creature jabbed hits talons into his gut and threw him off, standing up and screeching…

Which came to an abrubt halt when Drista swung her katana, cutting off its head. The body, still alive, shot off into the grass. "Thing doesn't give up, does it?" Riffraff asked.

"Kiff! Are you alright?" Blackrose gasped once she and the others returned.

"Well… considering I have a pain in my neck- other than Nessie- I think I'm able to keep from blacking out… for the next twenty seconds…" Kiff grunted, blood trickling out of his mouth.

"He's alright, alright." Nessie sneered, supported by Jo, while Stud carried Fikk.

The others ran forward, out of breath. "Oh, dear g… Kiff!" Hardy cried, rushing to his son with Drew.

"C'mon, we've got to get out of here," Riffraff said.

"What about that… thing? Shouldn't we go after it?" Gin questioned.

"It can't hunt without a head, now can it?" Drista said, holding up the Creeper's head. "Ought to set fire to it after what it's done to my kid,"

"YOUR kid?! What about mine?!" Drew argued. "Yours only has a bruise on his forehead- mine nearly got his throat ripped out!"

"Hey! We can argue over whose kid got it worse. Right now, I say we listen to Riffraff and get the fuck out of here," Nightclaw snapped. "…And Drista, get rid of that head. It might still bite,"

Drista shrugged, then chucked the head into the distance… and Chase shot another fire-bullet at it while it was still in the air, igniting it and setting it aflame. "…Can't be too careful," he said with a shrug.

Lamone used his wand to open a portal, letting Hardy carry Kiff through. "…Any reason why there's an arrow jutting from Kiff's side?" the vampire questioned.

"Uh… Claw shot him." Fangpuss said quickly.

"WHAT?!" Claw shouted.

~10~

**And that's just the beginning of the gore. Next chapter, we get a quick view of our meddlers… and perhaps one of our missing authors ;)**

**Please review. No flames or you're next on the Creeper's list.**


	12. Chapter 11: LaRael and Mister Cartoon

**Dang, guys, sorry for the unexpected hiatus, but life became a sudden pain in the arse. But, nonetheless, here is a new chapter… which features a new friend of ours ;)**

**~11~**

The last thing Biff 1 remembered was a dark shadow falling over them, and a pink gas was sprayed over the crowd of meddlers… and the rest was a blank. Once he regained consciousness, he noticed all the meddlers and their gangs were placed in several different cages, made of steel with glass doors- which, apparently, were indestructible, as he noticed Jabberjaw kept banging his head on the door of his gang's cage. They also seemed to have a special force-field that prevented Mudsy from using his ghost-skills to escape (apparently whoever caught them watches _Danny Phantom_).

He sat up, seeing that Kim was at his side, and they were the only two in their cage- considering the rest of their gang was out helping search for the authors. "Kim… where are we?" Biff 1 whispered to her.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Kim replied, looking through the glass window. They saw Freddy, Daphne, and Velma in a cage, waving wildly at them, calling… but they couldn't hear them. The glass was also sound-proof too.

A large door opened, and in walked a figure dressed in black… and it was no surprise that it was the woman they were sent out to search for. "Hello, Meddlers… welcome to my lair," she said, having a German accent. "You are probably wondering why I've brought you here…"

"What?" Freddy called.

"I have heard of your quest to find those authors…"

"What did she say?" Tinker asked.

"I have no idea," Mark answered.

"But as you can see, I've locked you in a high-facility chamber, preventing you from-" the woman continued.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" Alexandra shouted.

The villainess paused, seeing that none of the meddlers had paused to hear her evil scheme- like what they normally do. "Oh. One moment…" she grabbed a microphone lowered from the ceiling, which was hooked to some speakers within the cages. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Madame LaRael, and I have captured you in order to prevent you from finding those authors."

"Why?" Daphne demanded… though it turns out the villainess couldn't hear them either.

"Why, you may ask? Well, I do hate to be the one who gives away spoilers, but if you haven't heard, I come from the future- from a time that was supposed to be about this world being run by Finneas, Time Lord, and myself. …At least, that's how it was MEANT to be, until those authors spoiled everything, as well as you meddling kids!"

"Huh. Normally the villains don't say that until AFTER we beat them," Freddy commented.

"What happened, you may wonder- if you don't already know… Well, first of all, that boy you Mystery Inc. characters always hang around with took down Time Lord and destroyed his plans by going into the past. And then the offspring of those other three authors came into the past and helped their parents take down Finneas. Once those moments were recorded in the history books, I realized it was up to ME to conquer the world… starting by coming into the past and making sure none of you try to stop me, and taking down those authors and that chosen one!"

"Chosen one?" Kim questioned.

"She must mean that girl Sirius and Jo accidentally brought back in time," Biff guessed.

"And if you're wondering what I plan on doing with the rest of you…" LaRael answered, giving an evil chuckle. "Lets just say, you'll be wishing you were at the mercy of your previous foes." With that, she left.

"Why is it that every time we get a gig, we wind up in some crooked scheme?" Alexander whined.

"We've got to find a way out of here!" April said, looking around her steel cage. "Mudsy, are you sure you and Boo can't get out?"

"If I could, I'd be gone by now," Mudsy answered.

"Well I doubt there's any way out of here." Skip replied. "This glass is ghost-proof, shark-proof, shatter-proof, and if anyone tried to use a gun, it'll turn out to be bullet-proof too! There's absolutely no way any of us…"

*Clang!*

"Look!" Augie said, pointing over.

Sebastian had used his claw like a glass-cutter, and made a hole in his cage. "I guess it's not claw-proof," Mudsy said.

Sebastian walked over to a button, which opened all the cages, pushing it and releasing the others. "Way to go, Sebastian!" Alan congratulated the cat. "Now, lets find a way out of here, and figure out how to stop LaRael,"

"How? We don't even know where we are!" Shelly pointed out. "What are we supposed to do, look for a tour guide?"

"(ahem)" came a scoff, and everyone looked over… seeing a mysterious figure in a long coat, wide-rimmed hat, sunglasses, with the collar pulled over their mouth. "I'm not a tour guide… but I believe I know how to get you all out,"

"Who are you… and how'd you get in here?" Biff 2 asked.

"My name is Agent 99-99-99… but you may refer to me as 'Mr. Cartoon.' I work with a special agency that locates missing people, villains, underground drug markets, and cute, fluffy terroristic animals. I was on a mission that involved using a Holy Hand Grenade to rid the world of a vicious killer rabbit, when I ran into a future-agent, who informed me of a recent mishap a friend of mine was in." he looked over his shoulder. "She has incredible tracking skills, and is finishing up dismembering the guards outside that secret door we've located…"

*Thud!*

As if on cue, a pile of beaten up guards were thrown through part of the wall, which turned out to be a hologram used to disguise a doorway… and through said doorway stepped out Elizabeth Fangsworth. "I was wondering when I'd show up," she said to the reader.

"Tracker! But… we thought you went missing!" Biff 1 gasped.

"I was. That LaRael bitch tried to kill me off so I couldn't keep coming back and warning you all of future disasters. Luckily, however, her attempt involved trying to feed me to a killer-rabbit, and that's when Mr. Cartoon here saved me. LaRael doesn't even know I'm alive,"

"But how'd you find out we were missing?" Kim asked.

"Future-sense. I recalled a memory of Biff telling the family about how you all were captured at the concert, and managed to get a trace from there. …I suppose the others are still in the real world, right?"

"We don't know, but that's where the rest of our gang is looking," Daphne replied.

Liz nodded. "Good. Then the timeline is almost on the right track,"

Everyone exchanged glances. "What do you mean, Tracker?" Biff asked.

"Well, when I was in the future last, I looked up our stories in old newspapers- but the weird thing was, all the dates were chronologically out of whack. For instance, Finneas was to take over by the time I was 13… yet we defeated him before I was even born. It turns out that LaRael was the one who was behind the takeover, not Finneas."

"She said she was partners with him and Time Lord," Alan said.

"Right, but that was only in the future. With them no longer around to dominate, she took over in Finneas' place, being the one who was really trying to destroy the authors and rallying the old villains who didn't die."

"So how would this make the timeline whacked-out, again?" Clamhead asked, scratching his head.

"It means, everything that had already happened wasn't supposed to happen yet," Mr. Cartoon answered.

"Right. Since we defeated the villains early, we set off some sort of paradox," Tracker added. "In which, unless we can defeat LaRael in the right time period, everything will be out of order."

"So what are we supposed to do, just wait a few years until her hostile takeover?" Alexandra sneered.

"No, we have to stop her before the hostile takeover,"

"Alright, now you're just confusing us!"

Liz rolled her eyes, then pulled out an old newspaper clipping… which, ironically, was from the future. "Here, look at this."

"'Bears beat Yankees during Ninth Inning'?" Stanley asked.

Liz turned it around. "Wrong side."

"'Meddling Kids Save the World Again- Noids and Toons live in peace'," Augie read aloud.

"Right… but look at the date. According to it, LaRael was to be defeated before Finneas or Time Lord- way back in the 1940's!"

The meddlers blinked. "That… makes no sense!" Velma replied. "None of us were even drawn back then!"

"True… but back then, Toons and Noids (as they call people from the real-world) used to live together in one universe." Mr. Cartoon explained. "The two worlds, rather than working as opposing universes, were separated by a border… like what the one in _Who Framed Roger Rabbit."_

"I remember that movie!" Henry spoke up. "It took place in the 1950's!"

"Yes. It was more of a 'true story' kind of thing, to help show how Noids and Toons used to interact."

"So, where is the border?" Josie asked.

"No one knows. By the time the 60's began, it was shut down. People thought too many of the cartoons were dangerous and uncontrollable, and didn't want them back in the real-world, and the former Cartoon King used his power to split the two worlds into two universes, claiming that only the chosen one can put them back together when the real-world is ready."

"And it was supposed to happen by the time I was 13," Liz added. "Unfortunately, LaRael and the others didn't want the two worlds to be united in peace- rather, they wanted to merge them in a way that could cause both universes to collapse, allowing them to recreate both worlds the way they wanted."

"So… we're dealing with a villain who wants to play God? That's sick." Shelly sneered.

"But who was the Cartoon King?" Debbie asked.

"The first cartoonbrid, who called himself Professor Salvation… he was the twin brother of Judge Doom, only he was good… and not hideously deformed." Mr. Cartoon answered. "You see, he was supposed to be the only one who was half-cartoon and half-reality, having discovered his toon-counterpart at a very young age of 12. They fused together and- since they didn't know how to defuse like the authors know today- became one person, having the ability to change into whatever form that matched whatever world they were in, and never having to age."

"What about Judge Doom, then?" April asked.

"He wasn't so lucky. Not everyone has a counterpart, you see, and he was one of those people… and insanely jealous of Prof. Salvation. So jealous, he used a spell to try to fuse with a cartoon villain, so he could destroy his brother… but since they weren't a match, the fusion went wrong, making him look like a Noid with horrifying cartoon-features."

"And boy, were they horrifying," Alexander agreed, shuddering.

"That's when he really went insane, and wanted to destroy the toon world once and for all, coming up with DIP… which ended up destroying him, ironically."

"And good riddance," Shelly scoffed.

"So where's Professor Salvation now?" Suzy Chan asked.

Mr. Cartoon let out a heavy sigh. "Heaven. After the worlds were separated, he and his counterpart learned how to separate. The toon-half, sad to say, was caught in the middle of a tragic pie-fight and- being allergic to apple- got struck by an apple-pie, and died of an allergic reaction. As for the reality half, he was run over by a car."

"That's terrible! So there's no Cartoon King?" Mimi Chan gasped.

"Oh, there is one. You see, right before Salvation died-"

An alarm sounded off just then.

"Whoop, forgot we were still in villain headquarters. I'll tell you the rest later, right now, we'd better split!"

"To the holographic wall!" Mudsy declared, shooting toward the wall- but splatted against the solid part.

"A little more to the left, Mudsy," Liz said, showing them where the exit was really at.

Together, all the meddlers fled.

~11~

**Next Chapter- CHASE MUSIC TIME!**

***pardon any chronological confusion placed in this chapter… you are not alone***


	13. Chapter 12: Lets Blow This Joint

**Hey, folks. Sorry for leaving you in the dark about when the next chapter will be up, but here it is!**

**Additional Disclaimer: Shawn K. (an OC appearing in this story) is owned by Mr. Cartoon**

**Also, here's a list of the Meddling Kids, just to give you an idea on which character belongs to which (should have done that earlier, huh?).**

**-The Pussycats: **_Josie, Alan, Valerie, Melody, Alexander, Alexandra, and Sebastian_

_**-The Neptunes: **__Biff 2, Shelly, Bubbles, Clamhead, and Jabberjaw_

_**-The Chan Clan: **__Mr. Charlie "The Amazing" Chan, Henry, Stanley, Suzie, Alan, Anne, Tom, Flip, Nancy, Mimi, Scooter, and Chu-Chu._

_**-Funky Phantom: **__Mudsy, Augie, Skip, April, Elmo and Boo_

_**-Mystery Inc: **__Freddy, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, and Flim-Flam_

_**-Fangface: **__Biff 1, Kim, Pugsy, Fangs/Fangface, and Baby Fangs/Fangpuss_

_**-Speed Buggy: **__Tinker, Mark, Debbie and Speed Buggy_

_**-Teen Angels: **__Dee Dee Skyes, Brenda Chance, Taffy Dare, and Captain Caveman_

_**-Clue Club:**__ Larry, D.D., Pepper, Dotty, Woofer and Whimper_

**And just too keep myself in-check, here's the list of OC featured in this story:**

_**-Owned by Wherever Girl: **__Brielle, Kiff, Chance, Jo, Lamone, Gin, Hardy, Drew, 'Luna' and Stalker_

_**-Tracker78: **__Kassandra/Hunter, Samantha/Storm, and Elizabeth/Tracker_

_**-Fangface the Second: **__Edwin, Kite/Kitefang, Lilly/Blackrose, Sirius, Marlow, Norm, Alyx, William/Kaiser, 'Shaun' and Silver_

_**-Scoobycool9: **__Chase Hunter/Chris Howard, Nessie, Matthew 'Twiggy' Thorn/Nightclaw, Erica/Claw, Time Lord, Alexia, 'James' and Aaron._

_**-Me: **__Riffraff, Drista, Xyro, Zane, Fikk, LaRael, Ryoji and 'Ezekiel'_

_**-and Mr. Cartoon: **__Cartoon All-Star Shawn K._

**Now please enjoy this chapter while I pass out. *thud***

~12~

All the meddlers and the two authors raced down the hall, seeing a door marked 'Exit'. "There's the way out!" Josie exclaimed.

"Wow, and I thought this would be a complicated escape!" Stanley added.

They burst through the door-

Seeing they had entered a room full of guards, who were in the middle of a poker-tournament. A sign above them read '_Gotcha!_', which obviously meant that this obviously wasn't the way out but an obvious trick instead and they were obviously in trouble. Obviously.

"Spoke too soon," Stanley gulped.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" shouted one of the guards- who we should add look like basically every kind of typical henchman out there (helmets with goggles, black combat armor, boots, guns, five o'clock shadow, lack of hygiene, etc.)- and they drew their guns.

"Okay, but how come we have to stay and THEY get to go?" Augie scoffed, nodding to the right.

"Who?" Another guard asked, and they all looked over… seeing no one there. They looked back, noticing the meddlers had all ran out. "HEY!"

"So much for an easy escape," Elizabeth said.

"I thought you guys had come that way," Kim questioned.

"We did," Mr. Cartoon answered. "Maybe it was a trick-door, an illusion to throw us off."

"Lets just find a way out of here, before those goons catch us," Valerie said, and they rushed down a hallway, where another door awaited.

[Now Playing: "The Hop" by Danny and the Juniors]

The door turned out to be full of guards too- who happened to be in the middle of a football game on TV- and when they saw the meddlers, they ran after them. With so many guards on their tails, the gangs had no choice but to split up.

The Chan Clan ran behind a door, and the guards opened it, seeing the family disguised as tennis-players. They held up their guns to fire, but Mimi hit a ball at one of their faces, knocking him back and having his gun go off, nearly shooting his comrades' heads off. The family then escaped through a different door back into the hallway.

Mudsy and his gang dove inside a door and the guards ran in, seeing there was nothing there but racks of guns, ammo, and five of their 'own men' cleaning them. However, one of them sneezed and accidentally turned invisible, helping the guards figure out they were some of the meddlers- but it was too late for Boo knocked over a stack of crates full of ammo on top of them, helping his friends make a getaway.

The Clue Club and Teen Angels ran inside a room, seeing it was a bathroom… and one of the guards was in the middle of a bath, causing him to shriek like a girl. They immediately ran out.

The Neptunes and Speedy's gang ran into one room, which was like that of a cargo-hold, and hid. The guards ran in, looking around, and Tinker cut a rope that released a net over them, stalling the guards long enough for them to escape.

Mr. Cartoon, Elizabeth, Biff 1, Kim, Freddy, Daphne, and Velma opened a door, seeing there was what appeared to be a dark version of the TARDIS, painted black and- rather than looking like an old-fashioned police telephone-box- looked more like a large cylinder with a mini-pyramid at the top and tinted-glass doors. Before they could observe it further, there were gunshots from behind, and Mr. Cartoon pulled out a smoke-bomb, unleashing it at the guards and obscuring their sight, giving the gang a chance to escape.

All the meddlers, miraculously, regrouped in one last hallway, as a horde of guards came running at them, chasing them to a dead-end. D.D. bumped into a bust, the head arching backwards as a lever, causing a large trap door to open beneath them, and they went sliding down a chute, zigzagging and loop-de-looping at every turn, until they shot out the end of it into what appeared to be a well.

[End Song]

"Ah, yes. THIS is where we came in at!" Mr. Cartoon said, proudly.

"The bottom of a well?" Shelly sneered.

"It was more accidental. While we were looking for the secret entrance, I tripped and fell in," Elizabeth admitted, blushing a bit. "I, um, sort of take after my dad like that."

"So how are we supposed to get out?" Taffy asked, feeling the walls. "These walls are too smooth to climb up,"

"Already taken care of," Mr. Cartoon answered, and let out a whistle. A rope was suddenly thrown down to them. "Going up?"

~12~

Once everyone was out of the well, they were surprised to see who had helped them out. Standing there was Flim-Flam, Scrappy, and a nice-looking young man with brown hair, wearing a purple shirt with a black jacket over it, black pants, and dark-blue shoes. "Is that…?" Pepper gasped.

"CARTOON ALL-STAR SHAWN K.! SQUEEEE!" Taffy, Brenda, Dee Dee, Suzie, Anne, Nancy, Mimi, Shelly, Bubbles, Melody *gasp pant* and Pepper all squealed, hearts bubbling over their heads.

"My reputation proceeds me," Shawn K. answered, shrugging.

"Not to sound lost in the dark here, but… who's Shawn K.?" Biff 1 asked… and everyone all gasped.

"Dude, he's only the biggest celebrity in the tooniverse!" Stanley answered. "He's a sports-star, TV-star, and well-known hero!"

"What are we, chopped liver?" Freddy scoffed.

"And where have you two been?" Daphne asked Scrappy and Flim-Flam. "We thought you two were coming to the concert too!"

"Ah, we couldn't get in," Flim-Flam sneered, kicking the dirt. "They said we were too big of 'rejects' to get in, being too low on the fan-list."

"Ouch, wonder what that's like," Skip said, only to be nudged by April.

"We went back home to grab some supplies to sneak in, but when we got back, you all were gone," Scrappy explained. "That's when Shawn K, Mr. Cartoon, and Tracker came and told us what was happening and requested our help."

"Uh, might I say something?" Elizabeth spoke up. "Been wanting to say this for a while… My name isn't exactly 'Tracker', it's Elizabeth. Tracker's just my werewolf half's name."

"Werewolf half's?" Biff 1 and Kim questioned, surprised.

"We didn't know you were a werewolf!" Kim said. "Why didn't you say so before?"

Elizabeth rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, back when I was sent to a foster home after being kidnapped, I got a head-injury that caused my two mental-identities to get mixed up- in other words, as a werewolf I had my human-mind, but as a human I had my werewolf's mind. With that kind of mental-switch, I didn't know how to turn into a werewolf properly." she smiled. "But I can now. My mind is back in order after I returned to the right future,"

"How is that possible?" Biff 1 asked.

"Well… apparently, I was never kidnapped."

"Hold it! I thought that you were kidnapped- you were just kidnapped not too long ago, and it was supposed to happen so you could travel to the past and help WG and FF2!" Kim questioned.

"Yeah… but I wasn't supposed to. Turns out, the whole timeline is messed up, remember?"

"So's this plot," Alexandra commented.

"From what I can figure out, LaRael must have used that machine we saw to re-arrange the timeline, to throw everyone off so no one could really understand what was supposed to really happen."

"Well, she did a good job of it- I have no idea what's going on now!" Alexander proclaimed.

"What should we do about it then?" Bubbles asked.

"Simple- we find the authors, we stop LaRael, and we make this plot less confusing!" Freddy answered.

"Then lets get to it," Shawn K. replied, clicking a button on his key-chain… and a luxury jet hovered down to them.

"…why can't we ever travel this nice?" Tom asked Alan.

~12~

"Who's mommy's little munchskin? You are! Yes you are, my wittle pumpkin-umpkin… Yes, you're so cute, yes you are! Mama loves you, a boo-boo-boo…"

"MA'AM!" One of the figures from an earlier chapter shouted, bursting in.

There was the sound of a baby screeching, and LaRael reached into the crib, stroking the infant inside. "Shh, it's okay, baby…" she said soothingly, then her voice became rough as she glared at her lacky. "It's just one of mommy's dead-brained henchmen." she put a rattle in the crib. "You just wait here, honey-suckle, while mama takes care of business."

There was a coo, and LaRael smiled, then walked out, calmly closing the door… then gripped her lacky by the throat. "_How many times do I have to tell you not to disturb me when I'm with my child?!" _she snarled.

"I-I'm sorry, ma'am! But it was urgent!" The lacky stammered, their ninja-mask crooked. "All the meddlers… they've escaped!"

"WHAT?!" LaRael then shook her lacky violently. "HOW COULD THEY HAVE ESCAPED YOU CLOD?!"

"W-W-We don't know, ma'am! Their cages were empty, and all the guards said they disappeared through a trap door! They re-opened it and went down the chute… but only ended up in the sewer."

"Of course, you nimrod! Don't you know anything about working here?! No door opens to the same room twice in a day! If you leave a room, it switches with another after the door shuts! THAT'S WHY THEY'RE CALLED TRICK-DOORS!"

"Oh. No wonder everyone in this joint can't find the bathroom."

"Just go find those meddlers! And where's that report on the Creeper?!"

"Er, you're not going to like this, ma'am… but the others said it was decapitated, it's head was set on fire, and the body is back in its room, running around like a chicken with its head cut off… like, literately."

LaRael slapped her forehead. "Sheista! Can none of you do anything right?!"

"Um, if it makes you feel any better, mistress, those authors are still missing, no one has found them yet."

"And no one will… Sending those authors away wasn't good enough. With the way our luck is going, they might reclaim their memories!"

"What do you suggest, ma'am? That we kill them?"

LaRael slapped the lacky. "NO! We CAN'T kill them you fool, remember?! We must capture them, and lock them up here!"

"Why didn't we do that in the first place, instead of leaving them lost in the real-world?"

"Because, the real-world is a cruel, merciless universe, and everyone knows cartoonbrids are powerless there. But if they are found, and know how to return…" she turned to her lackey. "Have the others returned from hunting down those OC?"

"No, ma'am… apparently, they don't know how to enter the real-world. None of us do,"

LaRael slapped her forehead. "Just use the hidden entrance!"

"Okay… where's that at?"

The villainess groaned, shaking her head. "Just. Go. Get. The others. I need to think up a new plan,"

They both separated, while inside the room, a baby cooed.

~12~

**A/N: You just can't find good help these days XD Well, the meddlers escaped. Next chapter, it's back to me and the East Side Kids! :D**

**Fangs: A-HEM!**

…**oh, and our other heroes.**

**Please review. Don't flame or I'll lock you in a room full of dynamite, with a torch in your hand.**


	14. Chapter 13: Something Strange Is Abroad

**Holy guacamole with a side of chips! Sorry for the long wait, guys, life got to be a pain in the neck (and abdomen) so I got a little behind in my updates. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about our little story here.**

**Also, I'M ON VACATION! W00T! ULTIMATE UPDATE EXPERIENCE IS AT HAND, PEOPLES!**

**Okay, read and enjoy!**

**~13~**

**Mugsy's POV**

We managed to reach New Jersey in a matter of hours, and thank God too, considering this whole trip consisted of Fangs and Glimpy talking constantly, and it didn't help that Zeke kept whistling 'Hey Mickey', and Aaron needed to use the bathroom, while Brielle and Alexia argued about which interstate we should've taken.

By the time we found a hotel to stay at, it was dusk, and everyone was beat from the long haul. "Alright, we've only got two days to find James, before you guys turn into celluloid dust, unless you want to go back to the toon world." Zeke told his toon friends.

"Like, no thanks man, Scoob and I plan on making our reality-trip a one-time experience," Shaggy replied.

"Yeah, I don't know how you and WG can handle it, I felt like I had a thousand muscle-spasmums at once," Pugsy added.

"Ah, it's not so bad- we've teleportrayed with Zeke before, and we barely felt a thing." I boasted.

"Are you kidding? You kept complaining about feeling like stretched-taffy and having headaches all weekend!" Danny scoffed.

I gave him a glare, ready to slug him. "We'll go book us some rooms for the night," Kite intervened, walking by with Aaron and Alexia. "Why don't you guys hang around the lobby… and try to stay out of trouble,"

"Now when have we've ever gotten into trouble?" Glimpy said, though I doubt the others knew it was an inside joke (I had doubts he even knew).

We walked around, where near the dining area there was a stage, and a man who was wearing a hotel-employee dress-shirt, and pacing around all nervously. We walked over, to see what the problem was. "Hey, pal, what's with the hot feet?" I asked.

"Excuse me?" he replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, you're making a hole in a ground, and we were just wondering what was going on."

"Oh, some of my staff are supposed to be setting up this area. Our hotel is having a karaoke night and it's supposed to start in an hour… trouble is, they were all at some club last night and drank a little too much, and got arrested for disorderly conduct- I of course wasn't informed of this until fifteen minutes ago when they each called claiming to either be suffering from illness, a hangover, or still in prison for trying to get fresh with some inmates."

"Why not have the rest of the staff set it up, then?" Skinny asked.

"I already asked, that's why I'm pacing- they were supposed to be here by now, but haven't shown up yet."

"Something tells me we should avoid ordering room-service," I commented, then turned to the man, who I guess is the manager. "Tell you what, bub, we'll help you set this place up until your staff comes around- no charge, though we've got a big group with us and would like your best rooms to stay in, for free. No need for complimentary breakfasts, we've got a long trip ahead and a short time to get places so we may be out of here by morning. Sound good?"

"Well…"

"Good. Just take a seat and relax, before your sweat floods the room." I then turned to the gang. "Alright, guys, lets get to work!"

We got started setting up the chairs and tables, Scruno sweeping up while Peewee and Skinny set the tables. I stood in the middle, telling the guys where to put stuff and how to set everything up…

That's when I turned and saw the rest of Zeke's friends were standing there, watching. "Hey hey hey… are we looking for James, or preparing a cantillion?" Pugsy sneered, hands on hips.

"I didn't exactly see you guys looking around- plus, this little job is helping us land a free stay for the night." I retorted, giving him a glare. "Now, are you going to help, or just stand there and look pretty?"

If looks could kill, I'd be dropping dead with the expression on Pugsy's face- I would know, I give the same look to people all the time. "Just hurry up and come on, we've got some searching to do,"

He turned and left, and I stuck my tongue out at him. What a punk.

~13~

**Pugsy's POV**

Sheesh, talk about a wise-guy. I'd never get away with giving that kind of attitude to people.

I leaned in the doorway of the dining area, watching Mugs and his gang continue playing catering, arms crossed. Zeke passed by, carrying a couple chairs. "Your friend is getting on my nerves," I told to him.

"Eh, don't let it get you ya. Mugs is a nice guy once you get to know him," Zeke replied with a shrug, setting the chair by a table.

"Yeah, but why let him boss you around? Especially since we're supposed to be searching for the authors,"

"Don't worry- James will turn up…" he looked at his watch. "We got here earlier than expected, anyhow."

I rolled my eyes. "But why still let him order you around?"

"He's the leader of our gang,"

"Yeah, but you're the one who called them to come with- shouldn't you be calling the shots?"

"I don't mind listening to him- plus, we're just helping out, nothing to protest about." With that, he walked off.

Kite, Alexia, and Aaron came over then. "What's Zeke and his friends doing?" he asked.

"The manager said his staff wasn't showing up, so they decided to help set the dining room up." Fangs answered.

"Well, that's nice," Alexia commented.

"Yeah… but where ARE all the employees?" Brielle asked, looking around. "I haven't seen anyone but that book-keeper at the desk since we got here."

"Brie's right. This place is as still as a Sunday night," Kassy agreed.

"I wonder what's going on…" Aaron said, rubbing his chin. "Why don't we ask around?"

"Good idea," I agreed.

"We'll poke around, you guys stay with the East Side Kids,"

I grimaced. "Bad idea."

"I'll tag along," Zeke said, then held up his arm, allowing Ryoji to slither up and curve around it (yeesh). "Ryoji and Scooby can sniff around and find us some clues,"

Scooby let out a low whine, not too fond of that idea. Still, they walked off, leaving Kassy, Brie, Fangs, Kite and me with the Kids.

I walked over to Mugsy. "Alright, Mugs, the others got the feeling something ain't right around here, so how about you cut the catering and lets get searching?" I suggested, keeping a firm tone.

"I was starting to think the same thing- we've been working ten minutes and no one's shown up." Mugsy agreed (for once). "Maybe it has something to do with this room, since so many people are unwilling to work in it."

"If something's up with this room, I'm checking out," Scruno said, nervously, and tried to make a break for it, but Glimpy held him back.

"What's up with you? There ain't nothing going on- and we've dealt with worse," Mugsy sneered.

"You have?" Fangs asked.

"We have?" Glimpy asked, still hanging on to Scruno.

"Sure, haunted houses, common crooks, spies, you name it." Mugsy said, coolly.

"Sounds like the kooky things we meddlers deal with," Kite commented. "Looks like we've met some real-world meddling kids knock-offs."

"Yeah, except these kids came before the other meddlers were even drawn," Brielle answered.

"How do you know that?" I questioned.

"WG bought three volumes of their movies- basically the one thing that she and ATF have in common,"

"So, they're just like us?" Fangs asked, then looked at Glimpy.

"I don't know… I still want more proof," Glimpy said, deniably.

"They ain't like us meddlers," I scoffed. "Plus, you've forgotten half of the others have talent,"

"Yeah? What kind of talent?" Mugsy sneered.

"Well, for one thing, they can sing… and I doubt any of you guys have joined a choir you never got kicked out of,"

"I beg to differ," Peewee sneered.

"You guys can sing?" Kassy asked.

"Can they sing? You toons haven't heard nothing yet until these guys burst into tune," Mugsy boasted, turning to his gang. "Skinny, go get that karaoke machine working, pull up a good quartet; the rest of you, get on stage- Scruno, being a natural soul-man, you can have the solo."

"Hey, why can't I have the solo?" Glimpy demanded.

"'Cuz Scruno's already got dibs, now get up there."

"This I got to see," I scoffed, sitting down.

Mugs sat down in a chair, picking up a straw to use as a conductor's stick (huh boy). Skinny turned on the music and the words appeared on the screen, and the guys began to sing.

[Now Playing: _"Duke of Earl", original song by Gene Chandler]_

Much to my ears' surprise, they weren't that bad. Danny, Peewee, and Glimpy sang back-up, while Scruno sang the lyrics. Not only that, but a few people staying at the hotel came in to listen, some even dancing. Even the others started to bob their heads or tap their feet to the rhythm (Fangs got up to try and dance, but I held him down- I didn't want Mugs to think they were good enough to impress us THAT easily).

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walk in- they wore a long dark jacket with the hood pulled up, torn jeans, and walked with a limp, a cane with a silver dragon's head for a handle in their grasp. They sat down, ordered a drink, and listened to the song. I couldn't help but stare at them… something about them just seemed strange to me. They looked over at me, and I turned away, just so they didn't mistake me for some creepo.

[_Song fade out]_

Mugsy looked over his shoulder and grinned at me as the song came to an end and people started to cheer. I only scowled, rolling my eyes. "Ah, you still wouldn't make it on American Idol," I scoffed.

"Tell that to the applause," he retorted.

I stood up. "We don't have time to mess around, anyway. C'mon, lets go find the others,"

We walked out of the dining room, and I could still feel Mugsy had that gloating smirk on his face. _If he doesn't wipe that look off his face, I'm going to deck it off for him! _I thought, bitterly.

I looked back at the bar where I saw that stranger, only to see that they've disappeared.

~13~

**Alexia's POV**

I would think Aaron and Shaggy had no problem with Scooby sniffing around… though every time Ryoji slithered past, someone dove back into their room. "Are you sure it was a good idea to let that snake loose?" I asked Zeke, who I had split up with.

"He's okay. He won't attack anyone unless they try to hurt us- plus if James is around, he can sense him out." Zeke replied.

We walked down one hallway, where everything was too quiet, as if no one were staying in these hallways. It felt eerie, as if something were to happen at any moment- which was why I was trying to keep my lighting-powers under control, so not to accidentally strike something and cause damage. I felt a chill, and couldn't help but shudder. "I don't like this, Ezekiel…"

He then held my hand. "Don't worry, Alexia- we're cartoonbrids. We can handle anything."

That's when a maid ran screaming past us. "It's true! The rumors are true! I'm getting out of here!" she screamed, disappearing out of sight before we could ask her anything.

"Something tells me we'll find answers… this way." Zeke quipped, and Ryioji slithered back around his waist and we ran down the hall.

We heard barking just then. "Scooby!" We both gasped, and followed the sound…

Around the next two corners, we saw a kretin gripping Aaron by the throat, while Shaggy was knocked out.

~13~

**A/N: Suspense just keeps turning up, doesn't it? Well, review, and we shall find out what's going on next week.**


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